Mysterious Meteorite Rocks Nicaragua

Nicaraguan officials in the country's capital reported a mysterious explosion and the appearance of a large crater on Sunday. They are claiming that it is the result of a "heavenly body" fallen to earth, likely a small meteorite.

The apparent impact occurred near the city of Managua, leaving a crater nearly 40 feet across. The resulting explosion was reportedly felt throughout the entire capital city of 1.2 million people, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Nicaraguan authorities are telling international and local media that it is they believe that a small meteorite broke away from the asteroid dubbed "2014 RC" - a heavenly body about the size of a house that made a relatively close pass by Earth earlier Sunday morning.

Interestingly, few residents saw anything strange streaking through the air prior to the explosion.

"I was sitting on my porch and I saw nothing. Then all of a sudden I heard a large blast," Jorge Santamaria told the New York Times. "We thought it was a bomb because we felt an expansive wave."

Still, according to Reuters, Wilfried Strauch from the Nicaraguan Institute of Earth Studies (Ineter) said in an interview on Nicaraguan government TV that there is little doubt that it was indeed a meteorite that caused the blast.

According to Ineter, Nicaragua's history of extensive volcanic and seismic activity has equipped it with a plethora of sensors, and all these sensors are indicating that it was indeed an impact, not a geological phenomenon.

William Martinez, an official who was sent to investigate the scene, told the AFP that while it remains unclear if the meteorite burned up completely or has simply blasted into the soil, the evidence of its presence is clear enough.

NASA had announced last week that the asteroid 2014 RC, would be approximately one-tenth the distance from the center of Earth to the moon, or about 25,000 miles from Earth as it flew by on Sunday. Potential falling debris from this space-rock was not unexpected.