NEW YORK, March 18. /TASS/. A large meteor exploded over the US state of Ohio on Tuesday, releasing the energy equivalent to 250 tons of TNT, NBC News reported, citing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Yesterday's meteor was likely to have unleashed an enormous amount of energy when it fragmented, equivalent to 250 tons of TNT, Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office, told the US television channel.
What he called a small space rock nearly 1.8 meters in diameter and weighing about 7 tons traveled at 72,400 kilometers (45,000 miles) per hour before fragmenting, which caused a thunderous boom.
According to the Associated Press, the meteor was seen above several states from Wisconsin to Maryland in the western United States. People reported seeing the bright fireball even as it was 9:00 a.m. local time (4:00 p.m. GMT) on Tuesday. It traveled some 55 kilometers (more than 34 miles) through the upper atmosphere before breaking apart.