What to Know
- A bright fireball illuminated the night sky over Delaware Tuesday night, a celestial event that many in NJ reportedly also witnessed
- The American Meteor Society (AMS) received about 360 reports from people in 12 Mid-Atlantic and New England states, including New Jersey
- A fireball as “a meteor which is brighter than any planet or star”
An incredibly bright fireball illuminated the night sky over Delaware Tuesday night, a celestial event that many in New Jersey reportedly also witnessed.
The American Meteor Society (AMS) received about 360 reports from people in 12 Mid-Atlantic and New England states claiming they looked up on Tuesday night and saw the fireball zipping across the sky.
The AMS defines a fireball as “a meteor which is brighter than any planet or star.” The agency also notes that the brighter the fireball, the rarer the event.
The reports came from people in Washington, D.C., Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia.
The meteor traveled over the Washington, D.C. area about 11 p.m.
Last Night #Fireball over Delaware
— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) April 17, 2019
- new video, now 360 reports -
Nice video by Kimberly B, Maryland
Details: https://t.co/KWsHgKRcEa pic.twitter.com/JcXvfG8Wol
New Jerseyans in Absecon, Somers Point, Egg Harbor City, and Ocean City were among those who reported seeing the fireball.
Vicki W., an apparent witness in Galloway, New Jersey, remarked that “it lit up the sky as if it were daytime,” according to the AMS.
While Preston P., of Ocean City, remarked “It looked like it was headed for an ocean landing.”
Local
Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere daily, according to the AMS. The majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and many are masked by daylight, the agency says, adding that those that occur at night have little chance of being detected because of the low number of people out to notice them.
