Bright fireball seen over East Coast Wednesday night
Reports came in to WTOP on Wednesday night from people in all across the western D.C. area, Western Virginia and Pennsylvania wondering if there was a meteor shower to explain the bright ball of light they saw shooting across the night sky. After checking into it, there was no meteor shower forecast for this time period.
However, the American Meteor Society (AMS) received, as of 1:20 a.m. Thursday, 225 reports of a bright fireball — any meteor brighter than the planet Venus.
The fireball could be seen in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia at an approximate time of 6:49 p.m. EST.
Our security camera (Linden, VA) view of tonight’s meteor in Maryland. @capitalweather pic.twitter.com/IFXqzG6NXs
— Donald Bradner (@SirDonVII) February 22, 2024
Classified as “AMS Event 987-2024,” the fireball was bright and traveled from the southwest to the northeast over Pennsylvania. Some observers reported the fireball fragmented, which could have produced meteorites.
Thousands of fireballs occur annually around the world, at all hours of the day. If a fireball fragments and sonic booms are heard, the event is known as a bolide.
If you witnessed this event or see a fireball, it would help to report it to AMS.
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