Flaming space rock found in meteor crash just days after Nasa confirmed 1,000lb fireball flying over Texas | The Sun

A PIECE of flaming space rock has been discovered days after a 1,000lb fireball zoomed over a small Texas town.

The American Meteor Society confirmed the latest findings in the Lone Star State and said two other fragments were found in Italy and France days prior.

Preliminary information led NASA experts to believe a "meteoroid," which becomes a meteor when it burns up in the Earth's atmosphere and a meteorite when it hits the ground, zoomed across Texas skies on Wednesday evening.

Government officials believe the massive space rock was a whopping two feet before it split into pieces about 21 miles above the Earth and crashed into unknown locations.

It was moving at 27,000mph with the energy of eight tons of TNT, according to NASA Meteor Watch.

NASA warned locals to never touch pieces of the flaming space rock and to notify police if anything suspicious was found.

On Saturday, AMS shared a photo of the newly discovered space rock and noted that two other pieces were found days before in Italy and France.

The dark rock appears to be fairly smooth and stands out against the Southwestern scrub in the picture taken by an anonymous source.

The Italian meteorite, meanwhile, landed on someone's balcony in Matera, according to The Guardian.

It comes after officials in Rio Grande Valley confirmed a meteorite was spotted on Thursday after local officials were flooded with calls of various sightings.

Most read in The Sun

Residents reported a loud boom and said that their houses were shaking, prompting panic around the city.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said Houston Air Traffic Control received two reports from aircraft of a meteorite sighting west of McAllen.

A point of impact was unknown, Guerra said at the time.

There were no reports of damage.

Alton Police Chief Jonathan Flores said that they felt the blast in his area but were unsure what caused it.

“I do know that it was widespread. There are multiple cities receiving the same call,” Flores said.

Mission Police Chief Cesar Torres said: "We have not located a scene. We don’t even know if there is a scene.”

The National Weather Service also provided an update on the situation, sharing an image from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper which picked up a signal on Wednesday.

“For those asking what these images mean: It means there was a flash in the atmosphere that was bright enough for our NOAA satellites to detect at or around 5.23 pm today,” the NWS stated.

The signal was observed from space despite no storms being in the area.

The American Meteor Society received five reports about "fireball" sightings across Texas.

Two reports came in from near Mission, Texas, while two people reported seeing it in San Antonio and a fifth reported a sighting in Uvalde.

"Small trail that disappeared when the fireball burned out," the San Antonio witness wrote.

"It seemed to go in a trajectory that was towards Lytle TX," a second person in San Antonio wrote.

The witness in Uvalde said it looked like "an emergency flare" while a Mission resident reported a trail of smoke across the sky.

Read More on The Sun

I bagged a stunning dress for just £10 when I was doing my grocery shop

Emmerdale’s Joe-Warren Plant reveals real-life connections to rival soap stars

The origin of the mystery object remains unknown, however, meteorites are not generally a threat to the public, NASA said on Thursday.

“The meteor seen in the skies above McAllen is a reminder of the need for NASA and other organizations to increase our understanding and protection of Earth,” the government agency said.

Source: Read Full Article