Fireball over the Northeast
"I am pleased to report that I just eye-witnessed a major fireball event out my window. This fireball was traveling east to west, possibly over central Colorado. It was long trailed, turquoise and green, and shed sparks ... It looks like this fireball may have been at least 300 miles north of my location."
Here's a photo of the Colorado fireball, from cloudbait.com Be sure to click on the videos, too.
Here is an eyewitness report from the Colorado fireball, emailed to Thomas Ashcraft. What a sight:
"My wife and I were driving on I-70 just west of the Peoria Street
bridge and we both saw the fireball very brightly, even with the bright
lights of the interstate. It was greenish and south and slightly west
of our location on I-70. We saw it for about 5 seconds. It did not
seem high in elevation above the Denver skyline. It seemed to be almost
parallel to the surface of the earth. It was 7:28 on the car clock when
we saw it. It was beautiful. There was a flash of flames at the end.
We had the windows rolled up in the car and did not hear any noise."
I'm wondering whether these fireballs might be early members of the Taurid meteor shower, which peaks early next month. If so, we should all be watching for these things. Here's another report on the Colorado event:
"I live in Grand Junction, CO. Last night my sister and I were standing
on my East-facing deck talking. We both saw a 'light' over the
Bookcliffs ( a range of E-W running hills on the north side of Grd Jct)
coming from the NE. This is the general vicinity of the local airport
and we both dismissed it as landing lights of an airplane. A couple of
seconds later my sister yelled "Look at that!", pointing to the East.
We both saw the last two seconds of what we initially thought was a
firework (roman candle type) because of its color and brightness. There
were sparks observable in the tail as it passed overhead traveling in a
SW direction, and sparks when it 'went out', but no sound. The color
was a bright bluish-green - even the sparks were green. We speculated
that it might have been a fireball and were extremely excited to learn
today that it was. Unfortunately we did not get any pictures but it was
beautiful none the less. "
Comments
I, too, witnessed this amazing fireball at 7:29 PM MST from my home in NE Albuquerque, NM It was so bright that at first I thought that it may be a satellite or other debris breaking up. The meteor was traveling almost parallel to the horizon about 20 deg above the horizon from east to west north of Albuquerque. It lasted about 5-7 seconds and was very bright green with yellow and red "sparks" and flashes. An amazing sight!
Posted by: Eric Griego | October 29, 2008 3:35 PM
Here is a list of similar fireball sightings across the country in the past couple of days. There is growing talk of these being early examples of the approaching peak in the annual Taurid meteor shower. If so, we should be looking for more this week. Skies should be clear. http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball/fireball_log2008.html
Posted by: Frank Roylance | October 30, 2008 11:11 AM
I witnessed this as well in Northern Baltimore County, it was more than a quick shooting star, It had a very long tail...quite a sight!
Posted by: CRB | October 30, 2008 12:23 PM
I saw a bright fireball over northeast pa south of eastin pa. I was traveling down rt 33 to rt 78 when me and my son saw it. it was super bright with flames visable.
Posted by: doug | December 16, 2008 9:55 PM