A fireball in the sky caused a sensation in New York as it passed over the city in broad daylight on Tuesday.
The phenomenon was a meteor, the US space agency NASA announced on Wednesday, a trail of light that is created when rock debris from space enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
The analysis of witness reports suggests that the streak of light became visible over the city and then travelled west at a speed of around 61,000km per hour towards the state of New Jersey. The phenomenon was accompanied by thunder-like noises and tremors similar to an earthquake, local media reported. However, NASA said they could have been due to military activity in the area.
A meteor becomes visible when rocky debris hurtles into the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up there due to friction with air molecules. A fragment that has not completely burnt up and hits the Earth’s surface is called a meteorite.
Chunks of rock like the one that caused the streak of light over New York only have a diameter of around 30 centimetres, NASA said.