Meteor that lit up St. Louis sky was 220-pound fireball that broke off asteroid belt: NASA
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A bright blue flash that streaked through the sky over St. Louis Monday evening was an approximately 220-pound chunk of rock that broke off an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter before it entered Earth’s atmosphere, Bill Cooke, of the NASA Meteoroid Environments Office in Alabama, said Tuesday, according to a report.
The fireball was traveling at about 33,500 mph and caused a sonic boom, NASA scientists said, according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
METEOR LIGHTS UP THE SKY OVER THE GATEWAY ARCH IN ST. LOUIS
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The meteor appeared at about 59 miles over Cedar Hill, Mo., and traveled for 70 miles until it broke up into 12 pieces.
The American Meteor Society said that it received 175 reports of a fireball across a number of Midwestern states on Monday, including Missouri and Illinois.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cooke said bits of the meteor may have fallen to the ground as meteorites, The Post-Dispatch reported.
Fox News' James Rogers contributed to this report.