A dazzling bright object, commonly known as a fireball, streaked across the daytime sky over several states in the southeastern United States on Thursday, June 26, 2025, prompting widespread astonishment and hundreds of calls to authorities. Initially a mystery, scientists quickly confirmed the phenomenon was a meteor traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour, with one dramatic report suggesting a fragment may have impacted a home in Georgia.
Sightings poured in from across the region, including South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, and Virginia. The American Meteor Society received over 200 reports from witnesses detailing the luminous object’s fiery descent shortly after noon Eastern Time.
The Science Behind the Fiery Display
Experts at NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office identified the object as a meteor barreling through Earth’s atmosphere at an estimated 30,000 miles per hour. According to Bill Cooke, the office chief, the space rock was initially believed to be approximately three feet in diameter and weighed over a ton.
First spotted high above Oxford, Georgia, the meteor began to disintegrate roughly 27 miles over West Forest, Georgia. This atmospheric breakup released significant energy, estimated by NASA to be equivalent to about 20 tons of TNT.
Objects from space are called meteoroids. When they enter the atmosphere and burn up, they become meteors – the bright streaks we see as “shooting stars.” If pieces survive the fiery journey and land on the ground, they are called meteorites. This event was classified as an exceptionally bright meteor, or fireball.
Sonic Boom Reports & House Impact
Alongside the visual spectacle, residents in north Georgia and other areas reported experiencing what felt like an “earthquake” moments after the sighting. Meteorologists clarified that these were not seismic events but rather sonic booms caused by the object breaking the sound barrier and its subsequent fragmentation high above the ground. The National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia, specifically addressed these reports, confirming they were likely caused by the atmospheric entry.
In a remarkable development, a resident in Henry County, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, reported that a “rock” pierced their roof around the same time as the fireball sighting and sonic boom. Authorities and the National Weather Service are investigating, presuming that a piece of the object survived its descent and struck the home. The impact reportedly created a hole through the roof and ceiling and even cracked the home’s laminate flooring, highlighting the incredible forces involved.
A Rare Daylight Spectacle
Witnesses described seeing an intensely bright streak, with some noting colors like orange or yellow. Dashcam and doorbell cameras captured glimpses of the fireball descending rapidly.
Seeing a meteor this bright during the daytime is considered relatively rare. It requires the object to be substantial enough to create light brighter than Venus to be visible against the midday sun. The event’s timing also coincided with the peak period of the annual Bootid meteor shower, although experts have not definitively linked the two events.
Emergency officials continue to investigate the potential impact site in Henry County, seeking to learn more about the object that briefly lit up the sky and left behind a unique piece of evidence on the ground.
