Watch: Dazzling meteor streaks across Alabama sky

Watch: Dazzling meteor streaks across Alabama sky
Copyright REUTERS/Amir Cohen
By Seana Davis with Associated Press
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The meteor was travelling over 86,400 kilometres per hour as it lit up the sky

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A dazzling meteor lit up the sky above Alamaba on August 17.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) caught the meteor on camera as it burnt up upon entering the atmosphere.

The space agency reported that the fireball was travelling at a speed of 86,422 kilometres per hour above the US state and shone 40 times brighter than the moon at one point during its descent.

A meteor is created when rocks that orbit the Earth enter the atmosphere. Upon plunging into the atmosphere, the debris becomes burnt which produces the characteristic bright streak in the sky.

NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office estimated that the asteroid rock was originally around 1.8 metres in diameter and disintegrated 29 kilometres above Oak Grove town in Talladega County.

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