A meteor struck near McAllen in the US state of Texas last Wednesday (16). According to the American space agency NASA, the space rock was two meters long and weighed about half a ton.
Surveillance cameras installed in homes in the area captured the moment the bang took place. From the images, the strong noise startled the birds, which flew away, and even shook the equipment that was filming.
Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said in a Twitter post he was briefed that air traffic controllers in Houston, more than 350 miles away, had received reports from at least two planes of a meteor in the sky.
Guerra reported that the exact point of impact of the meteor on the ground has not been pinpointed and that there are no reports of damage.
A statement released by NASA explains that meteors tend to break up into many small pieces as they enter the atmosphere and generally pose no risk.
On the day of the incident, local police received calls from people who feared a bomb had gone off near their homes.
According to the American Weather Service, a lightning monitoring system identified lightning in the region where the meteor struck, but there was no evidence of a storm.