{"683056":{"#nid":"683056","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Space lovers, scientists marvel at meteor that blazed over Georgia","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThursday\u2019s meteor captivated many across the Southeast, but perhaps no one was quite as thrilled as the amateur meteorite chasers who track down bits of space rock and the astronomy researchers whose lifework is analyzing space activity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/directory\/person\/masatoshi-toshi-hirabayashi\u0022\u003EToshi Hirabayashi\u003C\/a\u003E, a Georgia Tech associate professor who studies space operations, celestial mechanics, and planetary science, quickly began analyzing videos of the fireball Thursday \u201cjust for fun.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBased on his rough calculations, the object was moving \u201cdefinitely faster than 10 miles per second\u201d or roughly 36,000 mph, he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile it\u2019s fun to see smaller meteorites hit the Earth, it\u2019s critical to prepare for when a larger meteor comes blazing in and does real damage. In 2013, a meteor the size of a house exploded 14 miles above Russia, Hirabayashi said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are working so hard to monitor, as well as develop technologies to defend Earth,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHirabayashi was also cited in articles published by \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/earth-space\/daytime-fireball-meteor-atlanta-southeast\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFoxWeather\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E \u003C\/em\u003Eand \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.wsbtv.com\/news\/local\/henry-county\/meteorite-hunters-searching-fragments-henry-county\/F5ABVYVKVZDWNPYNXH22AFZPAU\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWSB TV\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThursday\u2019s meteor captivated many across the Southeast, but perhaps no one was quite as thrilled as the amateur meteorite chasers who track down bits of space rock and the astronomy researchers whose lifework is analyzing space activity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/directory\/person\/masatoshi-toshi-hirabayashi\u0022\u003EToshi Hirabayashi\u003C\/a\u003E, a Georgia Tech associate professor who studies space operations, celestial mechanics, and planetary science, quickly began analyzing videos of the fireball Thursday \u201cjust for fun.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBased on his rough calculations, the object was moving \u201cdefinitely faster than 10 miles per second\u201d or roughly 36,000 mph, he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile it\u2019s fun to see smaller meteorites hit the Earth, it\u2019s critical to prepare for when a larger meteor comes blazing in and does real damage. In 2013, a meteor the size of a house exploded 14 miles above Russia, Hirabayashi said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are working so hard to monitor, as well as develop technologies to defend Earth,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHirabayashi was also cited in articles published by \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/earth-space\/daytime-fireball-meteor-atlanta-southeast\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFoxWeather\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E \u003C\/em\u003Eand \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.wsbtv.com\/news\/local\/henry-county\/meteorite-hunters-searching-fragments-henry-county\/F5ABVYVKVZDWNPYNXH22AFZPAU\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWSB TV\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-07-09 16:08:13","changed_gmt":"2025-07-10 13:51:28","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Atlanta Journal Constitution","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/news\/2025\/06\/space-lovers-scientists-marvel-at-meteor-that-blazed-over-georgia\/","dateline":{"date":"2025-06-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-06-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"61531","name":"Meteor"},{"id":"192252","name":"cos-planetary"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}