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And it's not a rare event.

\"It's common with fireballs that produce meteorites on the ground,\" Cooke said. \"When the shock waves hit the ground, it will shake the ground a bit.\"

#meteor scared the buhjesus out of us pic.twitter.com/qFcFMotFDi

— PirateHooker (@BlackBeerded) January 17, 2018

Still, the explosive flash, the sonic boom and the ensuing vibrations on the ground both dazzled and startled residents.

\"That's probably a little bit disconcerting,\" Cooke said.

Although meteorites have damaged cars and the roofs of homes, Cooke said no one has been killed by a meteorite in recorded history.

\"I would say most folks are pretty safe,\" he said.

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