• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Doorbell camera captures sonic boom as half-ton meteor crashes in Texas

Home> Community

Published 16:18 2 Dec 2023 GMT

Doorbell camera captures sonic boom as half-ton meteor crashes in Texas

The footage is pretty surreal

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

It might be worth having a quick scroll through your doorbell camera footage as one home in Texas caught the moment there was a deafening sonic boom.

And it was all because of a meteor.

Now that's something you don't hear everyday.

Advert

Check it out:

The shocking footage caused so much intrigue that NASA even got involved and launched an investigation.

The video, which was shared online earlier this year, looks typical enough until a dramatic moment when a sonic boom causes some sitting birds to scatter.

Advert

In case you're not familiar with sonic booms, they are created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound, so you can see why the birds were startled.

The object that caused the incident was eventually identified as a half-ton meteor (that's one which weighs almost 454 kg). NASA confirmed this fact, and the meteor was later recovered.

The meteor began to break apart as it entered the Earth's atmosphere at about 6:00pm on February 15 before crashing near McAllen, Texas, according to local media.

The meteor began to break apart as it entered the Earth's atmosphere.
Getty Stock Image

Advert

Reassuring the public that there was little risk to their safety, NASA said in a statement: "Although meteorites tend to hit Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds, they slow as they travel through the atmosphere, breaking into small fragments before hitting the ground. Meteorites cool rapidly and generally are not a risk to the public."

The space agency also shared a report about the incident as well as an image of where the pieces of the meteor were likely to have landed.

"The meteor seen in the skies above McAllen is a reminder of the need for NASA and other organisations to increase our understanding and protection of Earth, to combine scientific and engineering expertise to advance human space exploration, to integrate terrestrial and planetary research for furthering our understanding of the solar system, and to promote successful space missions by mitigating risk," NASA said.

News of the meteor was also reported by numerous members of the public, and the flash it created was captured by what's known as a Geostationary Lightning Mapper just before 5:30pm.

Advert

The object that caused the incident was identified as a half-ton meteor.
Getty Stock Image

Just like you'd imagine from the name, the lightning mapper is more traditionally used to map lightning, but the National Weather Service confirmed there was no thunderstorm activity in the area at the time the image was captured.

Reacting to the incredible doorcam footage, one viewer wrote: "Strange how animals pick up the danger cue much faster than humans."

A second added: "Idk why but I was expecting it to hit the car."

Advert

While a third remarked: "I thought the bird was being sucked into a meteor vortex."

A fourth couldn't help but joke: "Imagine trying to explain that to your insurance company."

Featured Image Credit: @disdikmark/Twitter/NASA

Topics: NASA, Science, US News

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

5 hours ago
6 hours ago
2 days ago
3 days ago
  • 5 hours ago

    Mom, 33, issues warning after noticing ‘mosquito bite’ that turned out to be much more sinister

    It's that time of year when mosquitoes are rife, and many of us also spend more time in the sun, so one mom is trying to raise awareness

    Community
  • 6 hours ago

    Chilling past of man who won $167,300,000 lottery jackpot as he's arrested days after claiming prize

    James Shannon Farthing won a life-changing amount of money in April this year

    Community
  • 2 days ago

    7-Eleven employee, 24, who was left brain-dead after manager ‘sat on her’ has died

    Jessica McLaughlin died as her life support was switched off on Wednesday

    Community
  • 3 days ago

    YouTuber legally dies in order to get $50 refund from airline and explains how he did it

    He went through all the stress of 'dying' for the sake of getting back just 50 bucks

    Community
  • Six-year-old girl inducted into Mensa as genius with Einstein-level IQ
  • Mysterious flash and sonic boom 'too horizontal' to be a meteor leaves experts baffled
  • Doorbell camera captures terrifying moment elderly woman comes face-to-face with bear
  • Lunar eclipse and meteor shower are coinciding tomorrow in very rare event