Northern Virginia Rattled by 4.5 Aftershock at 1:07 A.M. Thursday

Northern Virginia was rattled by a 4.5 aftershock earthquake at 1:07 a.m. Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The aftershock is "probably the biggest we'll get," said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. "Usually the largest is about one magnitude smaller." The Tuesday earthquake was a 5.8.

Caruso noted that the Eastern United States sees fewer aftershocks than the West Coast. "There seem to be about 10 times less," he said.

The aftershock was centered in a town named Louisa, which is just 31 miles east of Charlottesville. The area is near Mineral, Va., the epicenter of the 5.8 quake that rattled the region Tuesday afternoon. Mineral is 84 miles southwest of the nation's capital.

On the USGS Earthquake site, more than 6,000 commented that they felt the quake.

Three other aftershocks occurred within hours of the Tuesday afternoon earthquake: a 2.8 at 2:46 p.m., a 2.2 at 3:20 p.m. and a 4.2 at 8:04 p.m. that day.

Did you feel the aftershock last night?