Nasa reveals meteor EXPLOSION ‘like 30 tons of TNT’ over Pittsburgh

NASA has confirmed that a loud boom heard over Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on New Year’s Day was caused by an exploding meteor.

The space rock is said to have exploded with the same force as 30 tons of TNT.

GettyIf the explosion was visible it may have been 100 times brighter than a full moon[/caption]

Some people living in the southwestern region of Pittburgh reported hearing a roar like thunder around 11:30 EST on the first day of 2022.

There were also reports of the ground shaking and windows rattlings around the same time.

The National Weather Service didn’t detect lightning in the area so suspected a detonating meteor may be responsible.

Nasa has since confirmed these suspicions.

NASA Meteor Watch said in a statement: “A nearby infrasound station registered the blast wave from the meteor as it broke apart; the data enabled an estimate of the energy at 30 tons of TNT.

“If we make a reasonable assumption as to the meteor’s speed (45,000 miles per hour), we can ballpark the object’s size at about a yard in diameter, with a mass close to half a ton.”

Cloudy skies meant the meteor explosion wasn’t very visible from Earth.

If the sky was clear, the explosion would have been around 100 times brighter than a full moon.

It’s thought the meteor in question was a type called a “bolide”.

These space rocks travel through Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds and the high-pressure air breaks them apart in violent explosions.

It’s rare for these meteors to create a sonic boom.

Usually, they just create a bright dying shooting star display and don’t impact Earth.

It’s thought several thousand meteors fly across our skies every day but we don’t see most of them because they fall over oceans or are obscured by sunlight.

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