Meteorite Fireball Lights Up Parts of Georgia During the Day, Crashes Into a Home

A gift from space has possibly made its presence felt in a Georgia home. The gift was a fireball which could be associated with the daylight beta Taurid shower, according to Space. Experts believe that the fireball was triggered by a large meteor. It was spotted over the southeastern U.S. by astronomers. They speculate the meteor somehow survived its passage through the atmosphere and managed to breach Earth's atmosphere to become a fireball that dazzled in the sky. It was so bright that its arrival trajectory got picked up by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) GOES-19 Earth observation satellite. Pictures shared on social media indicated the fireball punched through the roof of a home in Georgia. 

Observation of the Fireball

The fireball was detected by the satellite on June 26, 2025, above the town of Oxford, Georgia, using an instrument to map flashes of lightning from orbit. The object was flaring in its trajectory due to the extreme heat produced by the atmospheric friction. The object was spotted at 12:25 EDT by the satellite and identified as a daylight fireball. Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society (AMS) refers to daylight fireballs as a rare phenomenon. According to Lunsford, for these events to happen, a large space object needs to be involved, which apparently does not come by easily. "We probably only average one per month worldwide, so perhaps one out of every 3,000 reports occurs during the day," Lunsford added. 

The fireball was 48 miles (77 kilometers) above the town and traveling at a speed of 30,000 mph (48,000 km/h) at the time of detection. Experts associated the fireball with the beta Taurid shower because of its timing. The shower typically peaks in late June when Earth passes through a trail of cosmic debris released by the ancient solar system comet 2P/Encke. 

Smashing through the home

The fireball reportedly pierced through a Georgia home's ceiling on the same day, according to the New York Post. A Henry County Emergency Management spokesperson claimed that the space debris penetrated the ceiling but did not cause any injuries. "At this time, the exact nature of the object has not been confirmed. However, after consulting with the National Weather Service, it has been advised that the debris may be either a fragment of a meteor or potentially space debris, commonly referred to as 'space junk,'" the spokesperson shared. The homeowner was apparently in "awe" seeing the whole incident and claimed the fireball managed to break through around a quarter-inch of sheetrock during its impact.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama determined that the fireball disintegrated 27 miles above West Forest, Georgia, according to National Geographic. As per NASA's estimate, the disintegration released energy worth 20 tons of TNT. The Georgia fireball also caused a window-rattling sound across the state. The sound could be sonic booms, which are produced when an object surpasses the speed of sound. More than 200 reports were made to AMS about the phenomenon. One of which involved a possible meteorite strike on a home in Blacksville, Georgia. 

What is a fireball?

NASA estimates that around 48.5 tons of meteoritic material enter Earth's atmosphere every day. If a meteoroid burns up in the atmosphere, then it's called a meteor, and if it reaches the Earth's surface, it becomes a meteorite. Fireballs are a kind of meteor that burns brighter than Venus in the night sky. Many fireballs fall on Earth daily, but they either go into waterbodies or are enveloped by the sunlight. Fireballs that are noticeable in the sky are rare. The large size of these fireballs often does not get burned completely in the atmosphere, and hits the Earth as a meteorite.