On Saturday, residents of Northern Utah awoke to an unexpected explosion, and all evidence points to an exploding Perseid meteor as the culprit.
According to Deseret News, the huge blast woke up northern Utah at 8:32 am local time. This resulted in a social media frenzy. The thunderous boom, which was audible along the Wasatch Front, in northern Utah, and even in some parts of southern Idaho, was captured on uploaded footage from home cameras. Many people in Utah reported seeing a blazing mass in the sky, speculating that the boom might have been caused by a meteor.
The Meteor Exploded With A Boom
The National Weather Service, which spotted flashes on its maps that were not caused by thunderstorms, added support to the theory that a meteor caused the explosion.
Although there have been no reports of meteorites being found as a result of the explosion, a NASA volunteer said that space rock bits may have been dispersed throughout the region in a KSLTV report. The explosion of the fireball would be difficult to locate, but it most likely came from the Perseid shower, according to specialists quoted in the Deseret News report. Every year in July and August, when Earth moves toward comet 109P/Swift-debris, Tuttle’s Perseid meteor shower occurs. Although the debris may not be very substantial, the American Space Society stated that it entered the atmosphere of Earth at a speed of 133,200 mph. The Perseid shower peaked this year on August 11 and 12.
As they race across the stratosphere faster than the speed of sound, they also produce sonic booms. Several seconds after the flying fireball is first visible, its “boom” is typically audible. However, the majority of the time, the boom is not audible because the meteors are simply too high in the atmosphere for anyone on the ground to hear it.
