Sun-Time Sky Show Turns Heads and Windows in Georgia & South Carolina
Residents across the Deep South were startled early Thursday afternoon when a dazzling object tore overhead, lit up the sky, and punctuated its dive with a house-shaking boom so loud it rattled windows from Augusta to Columbia.
What Witnesses Saw
- Noon-Day “Falling Star” — Phones began lighting up on the American Meteor Society’s hotline at 12:25 p.m. ET; more than 160 incoming reports described a brilliant streak framed against the lunch-time blue.
- Two-State Glow — Observers from Savannah suburbs to the outer neighborhoods of Charleston told the Society the light was brighter than the sun-kissed clouds it carved through.
- Boom that Followed — Seconds after the sky flash, people reported “a thunderclap on a perfectly clear day,” with doors quivering and dogs dashing for cover.
The Meteor’s High-Altitude Travel Plan
Per Bill Cooke, head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, the celestial intruder:
Cooke adds that the fragment itself was modest in size—a 3-foot-wide chunk of rock tipping the scales at a little more than a full ton. The fiery shatter it produced, though, sent a pressure wave barrelling earthward—turning the quiet afternoon into an unexpected science lesson for thousands beneath its path.
A Rare Mid-Day Visitor from Space Stuns the South
Residents across Georgia and up into South Carolina were treated to an unexpected sky show on Thursday when a blazing meteor tore through the atmosphere in broad daylight, leaving long luminous trails that lingered for several seconds.
What the Cameras Captured
An advanced Earth-scanning satellite operated by NOAA, and released through NASA’s media channels, caught the exact footprint of the streak as it bisected the skies above Georgia. The image—snapped from orbit—clearly shows the white-hot trail against a backdrop of afternoon cumulus clouds, confirming the precise corridor where the fragment entered.
The Fine Print: Meteor, Fireball, or Meteorite?
- Meteor – the light you see when a space rock burns up.
- Fireball – an exceptionally bright meteor; defined by NASA as anything brighter than Venus.
- Meteorite – what little remains if the object reaches the ground. In this case scientists believe the parent body might have completely vaporized, so a meteorite recovery is unlikely.
Could It Be Part of an Annual Parade?
Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society isn’t ruling out a Beta Taurid identity. This swarm of mostly invisible debris is active between late June and early July, peaking around June 25. Even though the shower produces few visible nightly meteors, it has a reputation for spawning the occasional daylight dazzler.
Just How Unusual Was Thursday?
Lunsford shared some eye-opening numbers with CBS News:
- Worldwide reports hover around one daylight event a month.
- Only one in roughly 700 fireball sightings ever occur in sunlight.
- “For most people,” he noted, “a lifetime passes without a single daylight glimpse.”
Recent Memories
Contrast Thursday’s Southern spectacle with the evening fireball that swept the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada in February 2024; that earlier event lit up darkness instead, proving that space rocks respect neither clock nor calendar.
