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WBRZ Towercam catches 'shooting star' at end of 6:30 pm Newscast

1 year 1 month 2 weeks ago Monday, February 06 2023 Feb 6, 2023 February 06, 2023 9:08 PM February 06, 2023 in Weather news
Source: WBRZ Weather

BATON ROUGE - Sometimes, a little bit of news happens during the news. Just as Michael Shingleton and Sylvia Weatherspoon were signing off for the 6:30 pm News, WBRZ’s Towercam happened to be pointing to the perfect spot to catch a shooting star. A shooting star, is a familiar term for a meteor.

((note: associated video has been slowed down from it's original version))

Meteors are made up of rocks and/or metal and burn up immediately upon entering the Earth's atmosphere. The whole process unfolds in less than five seconds, at about 100,000 to 400,000 feet above the surface.

Most meteors are pieces of other, larger bodies that have been broken or blasted off. Some come from comets, others from asteroids, and some even come from the Moon and other planets.

Meteors tend to be relatively small and any smaller than a football field will disintegrate before reaching Earth, according to NASA. Rarely, a piece of debris will make it down to the ground at which point it is known as a meteorite. Before entering Earth’s atmosphere, the object is called a meteoroid.

If you ever catch a newsworthy shot of the sky, we want your pictures (horizontal and focused please)! Snap and send it to @WBRZweather on Twitter or email weather@wbrz.com so we can share it on the air!

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