Many eyewitnesses in the SouthEast report seeing a bright fireball on 2020 December 22, at 7:04:39 PM Eastern Standard Time (2020 December 23 00:04:39 UTC). It was also detected by 4 NASA all sky meteor cameras in the region and an analysis of the video data shows that the fireball – which was caused by an asteroidal fragment 4 inches in diameter and weighing about 2 pounds – became visible at an altitude of 47 miles above the hilly country just south of Braswell, Georgia. Descending at a very steep angle, the meteor, moving at 29,000 miles per hour, passed over the town of Rockmart before disintegrating 20 miles above Aragorn. Its former orbit is a low inclination asteroidal type, with an aphelion well beyond the orbit of Mars.
Event ID | 20201223-000439 |
Date (UTC) | Dec. 23, 2020 |
Time (UTC) | 00:04:39 |
AMS Event | 8034-2020 |
Size | 2 lbs, 4 inches |
Origin | asteroidal |
NASA Camera Start Lat/Lon | +33.964, -84.970 |
NASA Camera End Lat/Lon | +34.046, -85.041 |
NASA Camera Altitude | 74.8 km → 31.5 km ( 46.5 miles→ 19.6 miles) |
NASA Camera Speed | 13.0 km/s (29,100 mph) |