Onlookers watched as a ball of fire flew across the sky.
Around 9:03 a.m. Over 30 people from Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi reported seeing a fireball in the sky. People in southern Mississippi reported hearing a loud boom.
The sound was created by a fiery meteorite that exploded in the atmosphere at a rate of 55,000 mph, generating an energy equivalent of 3 tons of TNT as it broke apart, and making a loud sonic boom.
Asteroid spotted just before hitting Earth's atmosphere.
Scientists think that the object was an asteroid measuring about 1 foot across that disintegrated over a swampy region of Louisiana, north of the town Minorca.
According to the NASA statement, the bolide was likely over 10 times brighter than a full moon at its peak. Not many people reported seeing it in the sky.
The lead of NASA's meteorological environment office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama said that it was unusual how few reports there were.
Satellites were able to see the event because people on the ground mostly just heard it.
A number of bright flashes were spotted by the Glm instrument on the GOES 16 and 17 satellites.
This is one of the nicer events I have seen.
The object was first spotted by the satellites 54 miles above the Mississippi River near the town of Alcorn.
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