NASA studies a meteorite that fell in Texas and weighed four baby elephants

A meteorite with the total weight of four baby elephants struck Earth near McAllen, Texas, USA and NASA is studying the fireball.

The meteorite impact, reported by local network KDFW, occurred around 18:00 on Wednesday and some eyewitnesses observed a possible impact of the meteorite in the sky at that time.

The National Weather Service later confirmed this, stating that a geostationary lightning mapper had seen a meteor flash half an hour earlier.

The Texas meteorite and its relationship to baby elephants

At the time of the meteorite’s fall it was not clear what had caused the flash in the sky, especially since there were no thunderstorms in the area that could have produced it.

Home security camera footage obtained by KDFW appeared to have captured an apparent sonic boom, the loud noise of which caused birds to flee, while many locals said they heard a possible earthquake.

The meteorite traveled at about 27,000 kilometers per hour, according to NASA Meteor Watch, which posted information about the meteorite on Facebook. The angle and speed at which it entered the atmosphere and weather radar images helped the Aerospace Agency determine that the object was likely a meteorite.

According to experts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the meteor in question had a diameter of just over 60 centimeters and weighed half a ton (about 454 kilograms). Hence the comparison with baby elephants weighing up to 113 kilos at birth according to Denver Zoo experts,

This means that, despite having a diameter similar to the length of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi dog breed, it weighs almost half a ton.

The meteor exploded in the Earth’s atmosphere about 34 kilometers above the ground and its fragments managed to land. Moreover, the meteorite impact had an energy equivalent to eight tons of TNT.

However, it caused no fatalities or significant property damage.

What is a meteorite?

On the site of the Museum of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of La Plata, “a meteorite is an object that fell to the Earth from space. Meanwhile, meteors are flashes of light (“shooting stars”) that occur when meteors pass through the Earth. Also small pieces of extraterrestrial “debris” cause meteors, including comet dust.

The La Plata researchers add that “when a large meteorite collides with the planet’s surface, its impact leaves a vase-shaped depression called a crater. The meteorite falls caused profound geological and biological transformations. At the end of the Mesozoic period , a gigantic meteorite caused large fires, a drop in temperature, a prolonged greenhouse effect and acid rain, probably causing the disappearance of the dinosaurs, as well as other groups of animals and plants”.