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What was the fireball in sky over region? We now have clear answers
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – NASA has confirmed a meteor caused the ball of fire in the sky that captured the attention and imagination of the CSRA. It was a fragment from an asteroid that was 3 feet in diameter but weighed over a ton, according to NASA. When it broke at 30,000 mph about 27 […]

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – NASA has confirmed a meteor caused the ball of fire in the sky that captured the attention and imagination of the CSRA.
It was a fragment from an asteroid that was 3 feet in diameter but weighed over a ton, according to NASA. When it broke at 30,000 mph about 27 miles over Newton County, it unleashed the same energy as about 20 tons of TNT, according to NASA.
While it may have been on the other side of Georgia, the CSRA had a front-row seat for the show around 12:25 p.m. Thursday.

Witnesses lit up the phone lines of 911 call centers, and authorities were worried it was a crashing plane.
John Schneider captured the sight on a dash camera in Columbia County and sent the video to News 12 – and it was one of the clearest and most spectacular recordings anyone captured.
Others saw the fireball as far west as Tennessee and as far north as Spartanburg, S.C.
“I just looked like a ball of fire falling from the sky it was just bright, just looking at it you could tell it was bright,” said Anna Sparks, who spotted the fireball from Dawsonville.
Scores of callers in Aiken County reported the ball of fire, and one person in Augusta reported seeing it from Robert C. Daniel Parkway.
One man even saw it from Sandersville, telling News 12 it was a yellowish flaming object shaped like a tadpole that shifted to a bluish color, and it was trailed by some black smoke. He said he heard a boom.
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That was probably from a sonic boom that some people felt on the ground. It was even recorded on seismographs.
“I was in two wars, and I know it wasn’t a missile or anything. It was just strange to see that in broad daylight. It was fiery orange with the blue tail, just coming straight down. It’s broad daylight, a beautiful day, and here’s this big red thing coming out of the sky. So, this is another day in South Carolina,” said a veteran in Columbia.
One resident of Henry County, Ga., took several photos of a rock that plunged through the roof of their home. At least one National Weather Service expert thought it might be part of the meteor.
That would be crazy luck, because a meteorite actually reached the ground 10 years ago in Henry County.
In 2009, a meteorite hit a home in Cartersville. one of 27 meteorites that had landed in the Peach State as of 2022.
LEARN MORE
Space rocks: Key things to know
- A meteoroid is a space rock, often from a comet or asteroid that’s floating through space.
- A meteor is a bright streak of light in the sky that is visible as the space rock enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
- A meteorite is what’s left of the space rock after it passes through the atmosphere and lands on the Earth’s surface.
After 911 calls started, Aiken County deputies and other first responders drove up and down Interstate 20 looking for evidence of a plane crash.
They saw black smoke in the area of Rainbow Falls Road but ultimately learned it was from a controlled burn.
The Federal Aviation Administration told News 12: “We have no reports of unusual aircraft activity in the area.”
Although meteors are not often seen during the daylight, very bright ones – often called fireballs – can sometimes be visible.
Experts think it might have been part of the Beta Taurids meteor shower. It’s one of the lesser known ones.
The National Weather Service said the object was spotted on the Global Lightning Mapper, a network that looks for flashes high in the sky, such as lightning.
Did you see it? You can upload your photos or videos at www.wrdw.com/community/user-content/.
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