Like 50 tons of TNT: 200-pound comet piece explodes over Kentucky; NASA shares pictures

The month of September is rich with stargazing opportunities, but it also seems to be bringing fireballs to the night sky. NASA on Thursday reported another fireball sighting, this time over the state of Kentucky. In a report, the agency said that the fireball, which was a piece of a comet, was spotted at 6:33 am UTC by its meteor cameras and the Geostationary Lightning Mappers on the GOES 18 and 19 satellites.

Scientists estimated that it measured about 16 inches in diameter and weighed around 200 pounds. It entered the atmosphere 80 miles above Crutchfield, Kentucky, and moved to the southwest before disintegrating 48 miles above the town of Mabel. According to NASA, it was traveling at a staggering speed of 145,000 miles per hour and released energy equivalent to 50 tons of TNT upon disintegration. Interestingly, the fireball is said to be part of the epsilon Perseids meteor shower that is annually active from September 5 to September 21. “This meteor was a member of the little-known September epsilon Perseids meteor shower, which has a maximum rate of about 5 meteors per hour. The peak, which occurred on the night of September 9, is quite narrow in duration (only a few hours) and is noted for being rich in bright meteors,” NASA said in a statement.

The epsilon Perseids are best spotted in the Northern Hemisphere, and their radiant (apparent point of origin in the sky) is the constellation Perseus, per The Sky Live. While they share a name and a radiant with the Perseid meteor shower which peaked in mid-August, the two have different origins. The August Perseid meteors originate from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, whereas the epsilon meteors originate from an unknown comet. If you missed the epsilon Perseids' peak, this weekend would be a good time to look for stragglers, as the Moon will be in its New Moon phase with virtually zero illumination.

The latest event marks the second instance of a major fireball sighting in less than two weeks. On August 30, NASA had flagged another meteor which exploded in the evening hours over Oregon and Washington. It was spotted moving at 48,000 mph at an altitude of 52 miles above the western slope of Mount St. Helens, Washington, and disintegrated 33 miles above Astoria in Oregon. Prior to this, one meteor was seen streaking across the skies over Idaho, Washington, and Oregon on August 14. NASA said it was a small piece of an asteroid that measured about 16 inches in diameter but weighed approximately 170 pounds, and released energy equivalent to 10 tons of TNT upon explosion, which sent shock waves to the ground. Some eyewitnesses are said to have heard booms as the fireball exploded.

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