A loud boom heard in Mississippi on Wednesday morning was confirmed to be a meteor breaking into pieces.
"UPDATE: After multiple reports of a loud sound this morning across a portion of our state, MEMA has confirmed with NASA it was a fireball that caused the noise," the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. "No injuries or property damage have been reported. We are told the meteor ran parallel to the Mississippi River."
Earlier, the Claiborne County Sheriff Department said it was aware of reports of a loud sound heard throughout the county. The department assured that the sound had nothing to do with the nearby Grand Gulf Nuclear Station.
"There is no threat to the county and no action is to be taken," the department said.
MEMA posted a report from NASA saying 30 people in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana saw a fireball Tuesday morning.
"The sighting was soon followed by numerous reports of loud booms heard in Claiborne and surrounding counties," the report says.
"The object — thought to be a piece of an asteroid about a foot in diameter with a weight of 90 pounds — moved southwest at a speed of 55,000 miles per hour, breaking into pieces at it descended deeper into Earth's atmosphere," it says.
The fragmentation of the fireball generated an energy equivalent to 3 tons of TNT, NASA said. The energy created shock waves that traveled to the ground, creating the booms heard in the area, NASA said.
