A meteorite landed near the international airport in the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, on Saturday at around 11 p.m. local time (Sunday at 1 a.m. EDT), according to Reuters.
None of the 2.4 million residents of the metropolitan area were injured however. The meteorite did leave a crater measuring 16 feet deep and 39 feet wide.
Wilfried Strauch, a researcher with the Nicaraguan Institute of Earth Studies, or Ineter, said during an interview on government television channel that scientists haven't figured out the composition of the meteorite since they weren't sure whether it disintegrated on hitting the ground or is buried at the impact site, according to Reuters.
Nicaragua has more than 20 volcanoes and is regularly rocked by earthquakes, so its seismic sensors weren't able to detect the impact event this weekend.
"All the evidence that we've confirmed on-site corresponds exactly with a meteorite and not with any other type of event," Ineter's Jose Millan said to Reuters. "[W]e have the seismic register which coincides with the time of impact, and the typical characteristic that it produces a cone in the place of impact."
A committee formed by the government to study the event confirmed it was caused by a "relatively small" meteorite that "appears to have come off an asteroid that was passing close to Earth," Nicaraguan first lady Rosario Murillo said to the Associated Press.
"It could have come off that asteroid, because it is normal for that to occur. We have to study it more because it could be ice or rock," said Humberto Garcia, associated with the Astronomy Center at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, according to AP.
He added that the meteorite could be related to an asteroid that was forecast to pass by Earth on Sept. 6.
"I was sitting on my porch, and I saw nothing, then all of a sudden I heard a large blast. We thought it was a bomb because we felt an expansive wave," said local resident Jorge Santamaria to AP.
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