Some East Coast residents may have witnessed a fireball streaking across the night sky last week. But for those who didn’t, a video released by the American Meteor Society showed just how bright one in North Carolina appeared.
According to the organization, a fireball is another term for a meteor so bright that it illuminates more than Venus, which is widely considered the brightest planet in our solar system.
The video shared by the organization came from a home porch camera in Rowland Pond, North Carolina, around 15 miles south of Raleigh, around 7:40 p.m. local time on Friday, according to NASA. The agency said 80 people reported that they saw the fireball rip through North Carolina sky. The video has gained over 159,000 views on YouTube.
“There were many reports of at least 5 fireballs seen over the United States last night,” NASA said in a Facebook post. “An analysis of these accounts shows that the meteor skimmed the coast of North Carolina, becoming visible 48 miles above the ocean off Camp Lejeune, moving northeast at 32,000 miles per hour. It disintegrated 28 miles above Morehead City, after traveling 26 miles through Earth’s upper atmosphere.”
The American Meteor Society said they received 148 reports of a fireball seen in Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia on the same night.
The incredible speed of the fireball is common, but they can reach up to 160,000 miles per hour as they enter Earth’s atmosphere before rapidly decelerating, according to the American Meteor Society. NASA says fireballs don’t typically stay intact while passing through Earth’s atmosphere, and sometimes fragments, or meteorites, can be recovered on the ground.
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