The American Meteor Society has
received reports of a bright fireball meteor being seen over Long Island, New York, at about 3.00 pm, Eastern Daylight Time (about 7.00 pm GMT), on Wednesday 18 October 2017. The majority of the
sightings came from New York and New Jersey, though reports have come from Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Hampshire as well. A fireball
is defined
as a meteor
(shooting star) brighter than the
planet Venus. These are typically caused by pieces of rock burning up in
the atmosphere, but can be the result of man-made space-junk burning up
on re-entry.
The 18 October 2017 fireball meteor seen from Connecticut. News 12 Connecticut.
The meteor was seen to move from northwest to southeast, entering the atmosphere over Connecticut or Long Island and terminating over the Atlantic Ocean
(such meteors typically terminate many kilometres above the Earth's surface in an
explosion caused by friction with the Earth's atmosphere).
The estimated trajectory of the 18 October 2017 fireball meteor. American Meteor Society.
Objects
of this size probably enter the Earth's atmosphere several times a
year, though unless they do so over populated areas they are unlikely to
be noticed. They are officially described as fireballs if they produce a
light brighter than the planet Venus. It is possible, though unlikely,
that this object will have produced meteorites that reached the surface
(an object visible in the sky is a meteor, a rock that falls from the
sky and can be physically held and examined is a meteorite), though most
meteorites come from larger objects that penetrate further into the
atmosphere before exploding, and therefore have a better chance of
producing fragments that reach the surface.
Witness reports can help astronomers to understand these events. If you
witnessed this fireball you can report it to the American Meteor Society here.
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.