Possible Fireball Touchdown in Mexico

Originally posted by kalunom
Interesting there was shaking felt after...must have been something substantial.

Yes, it would have had to be approaching 1m wide, and perhaps 3m+ (if the object was composed from average strength/density material), to have made it low enough to cause booms/rumbling.

Objects in this kind of size range are not uncommon, and they often drop meteorites on the ground. Likewise, reports of big meteors causing sonic booms are not uncommon. At a guess, there are probably 30-50 reports per year mentioning rumbling/booms, and many more than this probably go unreported due to the vast majority of the planets surface being either ocean or wilderness.

It's unlikely that anything impacted the ground with significant force in cases like this one, although it does happen occasionally, but so far as I can tell there re no indications that anything did in this case.

Can a fireball create a sound? Will the sound occur right away, as you watch the fireball, or is their some delay?

There are two reported types of sounds generated by very bright fireballs, both of which are quite rare. These are sonic booms, and electrophonic sounds.

If a very bright fireball, usually greater than magnitude -8, penetrates to the stratosphere, below an altitude of about 50 km (30 miles), and explodes as a bolide, there is a chance that sonic booms may be heard on the ground below. This is more likely if the bolide occurs at an altitude angle of about 45 degrees or so for the observer, and is less likely if the bolide occurs overhead (although still possible) or near the horizon. Because sound travels quite slowly, at only about 20 km per minute, it will generally be 1.5 to 4 minutes after the visual explosion before any sonic boom can be heard. Observers who witness such spectacular events are encouraged to listen for a full 5 minutes after the fireball for potential sonic booms.

Source: The American Meteor Society Fireball FAQs

reply to post by zorgon


Yeah I know, I said that already.

reply to post by madforit96


I just came back. This morning it was only in mexican newpapers. let's see if we can get this in english asap.

reply to post by Angelic Resurrection


do mexico even have any