You may not have noticed it, but an impressive shooting star lit up the night sky Sunday over Atlanta, according to NASA researchers.
The meteor, traveling at a whopping 52,800 mph, was so dazzling NASA has released a video of the show.
The shooting star, caught by a new NASA camera in Cartersville, Ga. was first spotted at night traveling at an altitude of about 65 miles above Duluth, according to a report on the space agency’s website, Space.com. It fizzled from view between Stockbridge and McDonough.
"The meteor was too bright for the all-sky camera in Cartersville to accurately determine the center of light, so manual analysis will be required to determine a more accurate end point," Bill Cooke, a NASA meteoroid scientist, wrote in a blog post.
Earlier this year NASA began deploying a network of smart cameras to capture and study the 100 tons of space debris that enter Earth’s atmosphere daily. The space agency wants to be able to determine whether a meteor will plunge to Earth and where it will likely hit. Much of the debris vaporizes after entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Cartersville is one of two towns in Georgia with the smart cameras. The other camera is in Chickamauga, in northwest Georgia.
About the Author
