Bright fireball over Pennsylvania, U.S.

A bright fireball streaked through the night sky over Pennsylvania, U.S. at around 23:48 UTC on February 21, 2024. Hundreds of people reported the event despite significant cloud cover.

Over the next 4 days, the American Meteor Society (AMS) received 429 reports from users across multiple states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, and Ontario.

This event was also recorded by two cameras from the NASA Fireball Network, one camera from the Southern Ontario Meteor Network, and several other public cameras across the region.

Despite widespread cloud cover that initially hindered visibility, the fireball became visible at an altitude of 61 km (38 miles) above the town of Syndersburg in Pennsylvania, traveling east-northeast at a speed of 48 280 km/h (30 400 mph).

The fireball, identified as a small fragment of an asteroid, ultimately disintegrated 37 km (23 miles) above the ground, in the vicinity of wooded terrain just north of Hallton, Pennsylvania.

The extensive cloudiness and haze at the time of the event obscured a precise assessment of both the fireball’s brightness and the mass of the asteroid fragment responsible for the spectacle. This limited visibility posed challenges for a detailed analysis of the fireball’s characteristics, leaving some aspects of this celestial event shrouded in mystery.

Featured image credit: Frank in Youngstown