JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Residents of Georgia were taken by surprise early Thursday morning when a fireball blazed across the sky, causing quite a stir on social media as reports surfaced from the Southeast United States.

The meteor broke up in the atmosphere with enough force to generate a sonic boom, and was even captured by satellite imagery.

The fireball entered Earth’s atmosphere and broke apart, with one fragment landing on a house in Henry County. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the home was unoccupied at the time, making this a remarkably rare event.

The chances of a meteorite hitting a home are extraordinarily slim, with estimates suggesting the odds are about one in 840 million. To put this in perspective, an individual is approximately 50,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning.

To clarify terminology: a meteoroid is a space rock traveling through space. Once it enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns brightly, it’s called a meteor. If it survives the fiery descent and reaches the ground, it becomes a meteorite—as in the case of the Henry County specimen.

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