Massive fireball lights up night sky across nearly a dozen states
So far, the American Meteor Society has not received any reports of Wednesday’s space matter striking the ground. Less than 5% of meteors survive the friction and become a meteorite.
Massive fireball lights up night sky across Northeast, Great Lakes
The American Meteor Society received hundreds of reports across the Great Lakes, Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Wednesday of a fireball in the night’s sky.
WASHINGTON – Residents across nearly a dozen states and Canada reported seeing a fireball in Wednesday night’s sky that some described as an event they'd never seen before.
The American Meteor Society started receiving reports shortly after 6:45 p.m. of a glowing object that quickly transversed the sky.
Based on the number of reports, the society said what was spotted is believed to be a fireball and triangulated its possible path as being over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Fireball reports from Wednesday evening
(The American Meteor Society / FOX Weather)
Video provided to FOX Weather from a security camera in Linden, Virginia, showed the bright meteor that was only visible for a few seconds.
"It seemed very large in the sky with a long trail," an Ohio observer noted.
A State College, Pennsylvania resident stated, "It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen."
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NASA says meteoroids that enter Earth’s atmosphere are called meteors, and if they strike the ground, they earn the designation of meteorite.
The space agency estimates that 48.5 tons of space matter strikes Earth daily, but much of the material burns up and is not visible.
Less than 5% of meteors survive the friction and speeds of greater than 25,000 miles per hour to strike Earth’s surface.
Fireball seen streaking across night sky in northern Virginia
Home security video captures the moment a fireball fell across the sky just before 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Courtesy: @wolfpackwx / X)
So far, the American Meteor Society has not received any reports that Wednesday’s space matter struck the ground, but if it did, southwestern areas of the Northeast appeared to be in its trajectory.
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Meteorites are said to be mainly composed of metallic, rocky material and typically range in size from between a pebble to a fist.
A museum in Maine offered a $25,000 reward for the remnants of a fireball that streaked through the sky last April, but no one ever publicly claimed to have found a piece of outer space.
Planetary experts estimate only 500 meteorites reach Earth's surface each year, with less than a dozen that are ever recovered.
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