Buda, Texas, USA
2 min readBUDA, TEXAS, USA – July 24, 2022, 10:20 PM local time, multiple civilian cameras detected a small meteor fireball over southeast Texas, heading northwest toward Austin. This was a small fireball, and the speed was relatively fast, but there is still a chance that meteorites reached the ground.
Entry Date/Time: | 2022-07-25 03:22:56 UTC |
End Location: | 30km S of Austin, TX |
Endpoint Coordinates: | TBD |
Reference Altitude: | 34 km above sea level |
Energy / Mass Estimate: | < 1 tonne TNT / 10 kg |
Reference Speed: | 16.9 km/s |
Bearing: | 318° NW |
Slope: | 64° from vertical |
Estimated Strewn Mass: | < 1.8 kg |
Classification: | unknown |
Event Links: | AMS Event 4290-2022 |
News and Video
Several videos of the meteor were captured and posted online.
Search Efforts
Originally, it was reported that Doppler signatures were detected near Bee Cave, but these turned out to be false. New video analysis by the Strewnify team points to an endpoint further south, so meteorite hunters may return to search the new area. Join the discussion on social media to learn more.
Join the Strewnify Midwest USA Facebook group
StrewnLAB Search Area
Videos were analyzed by the Strewnify team and the new trajectory has been run through the StrewnLAB software to predict a search area. Please download and review the Google Earth files below for detailed maps of the search area.
Weather Data
The weather data below is sourced from weather balloons, and publicly available via NOAA’s Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA). This data is downloaded and post-processed by the StrewnLAB algorithm, to account for changing weather patterns and weather balloon drift. The plots have altitude on the y-axis, in kilometers above sea level. The wind speed below 10km has large effect on the drift of meteorites.
The author and founder of Strewnify.com, an automotive controls engineer, with a passion for physics.
Hancock, Michigan, USA | james.a.goodall@gmail.com | +1 586 709 5888
As I have reported, but have not been taken very seriously, I found a fresh meteorite near Southpark Meadows on July 30. It weighs 10.79 grams and was in the street on Slaughter Lane near the curb. I believe it to be from the Capricorn shower that was peaking that weekend. Looks like a hexehedrite, but may in fact be a chondrite, as it has a fusion crust, shiny and thin, and appears to be stony, and not pure iron. But I’m not going to just blindly send it off. So far I have been told by the American Meteorite Society that they have no experts on staff, same as UT, and the Austin Natural History Museum has been closed for months. But Facebook groups allow members to call themselves experts with no creditentials. The rock will be safe until I can get it classified. Photos I sent are out there. I took 12 photos the night I found it, none since. I haven’t much money but will get it analyzed as soon as possible.
I believe my location to be pretty much the heart of the strewn field, but I don’t think many fragments touched down. I got very lucky and was shocked to find such a new fresh meteorite.