Meteor Hits New Mexico (Or At Least The Air Above It) (VIDEO)

Meteor Hits New Mexico

A meteor has been caught on camera burning up in the atmosphere above New Mexico.

The video was recorded on March 6th, 2014, near the town of Lamy.

The meteor apparently slammed into the atmosphere above the North of the state, but burned up before it could hit the surface.

Local man Thomas Ashcraft captured the fireball with an automated camera, and caught the sound of the strike with a forward-scatter meteor radar.

It's been a busy old time for meteors and asteroids lately. Earlier this week the third Near-Earth asteroid in almost as many days passed safely above our heads - though closer than the Moon typically orbits Earth. Meanwhile scientists have recorded an asteroid far from Earth mysteriously shattering in space, for no apparent reason.

Meteor strikes themselves are hardly rare, of course. An estimated 37,000-78,000 tons of rock fall on Earth each year in many thousands of individual strikes, though usually only in small bitesize chunks (or dust).

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