Doorbell camera captures sonic boom as half-ton meteor crashes in Texas

Although doorbell cameras are primarily for security purposes, they often end up capturing more things than someone stealing your package from your front door.

Over the years, we've seen a “death whistle” caught on the handy device and the horrifying footage of the moment a woman screamed for help before she was kidnapped.

But when it comes to the most incredible footage captured by a doorbell camera, Texas sure has a sonic boom.

The footage captured last year was so shocking that even NASA, of all companies, stepped in to clarify the situation.

So what happened?

Well, the footage begins with what looks like any other front yard in Texas – but things certainly take a dramatic turn.

Soon a sonic boom is heard, scaring away all the sitting birds in the area.

If you're unfamiliar with sonic booms, they occur when an object moves through the air faster than the speed of sound – so you can understand why the birds were startled.

The sonic boom was captured on camera. (Twitter/@disdikmark)

The object in this case happened to be a half-ton meteor (weighing almost 454 kg) and was later confirmed by NASA.

According to local media, the meteor began breaking apart as it entered Earth's atmosphere around 6:00 p.m. on February 15, 2023, before crashing near McAllen, Texas.

NASA reassured the public that there was little risk to their safety, saying in a statement: “Although meteorites tend to hit Earth's atmosphere at high speeds, they slow down as they travel through the atmosphere and break up into small fragments, before they hit the ground.”

“Meteorites cool quickly and generally do not pose a threat to the public.”

The space agency also released a report on the incident and an image of where the pieces of meteorite likely landed.

The moment was pretty amazing. (X/@disdikmark)

“The meteor observed in the sky above McAllen is a reminder of the need for NASA and other organizations to improve our understanding and protection of Earth, to combine scientific and engineering expertise to advance human space exploration, and to advance terrestrial and planetary research “To advance our Earth, “improve our understanding of the solar system and promote successful space missions through risk reduction,” NASA also said.

Numerous citizens also reported about the meteor and the lightning it caused was recorded by a so-called Geostationary Lightning Mapper shortly before 5:30 p.m.

As the name suggests, the Lightning Mapper is more traditionally used for mapping lightning, but NWS confirmed that there was no thunderstorm activity in the area at the time the image was captured.

Topics: NASA, Texas, space, science