Bright fireball over Massachusetts, U.S.

A bright fireball was seen streaking through the night sky over the northeastern United States at 01:36 UTC on July 20, 2024 (21:36 EDT, July 19).

According to NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO), numerous eyewitnesses in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have filed reports on the American Meteor Society (AMS) website of a bright meteor seen Friday night (LT).

An analysis of these accounts, constrained by a few publicly accessible videos, shows that the fireball appeared at an altitude of 33 km (54 miles) above the town of Arnoldville, Massachusetts, moving northwest at 88 000 km/h (55 000 mph).

The meteor passed over the tristate intersection into New York, where it disintegrated 56 km (35 miles) above Schuylerville after traveling 74 km (46 miles) through the upper atmosphere.

This fireball was not a member of the Southern Delta Aquariid or Perseid meteor showers, according to Dr. Bill Cooke of MEO.

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The event follows a rare daylight fireball over New York City on July 16, reported to the AMS by 60 people.

An even larger fireball, with an estimated magnitude of -19.5 was recorded over northeastern Brazil on July 13. This fireball was approximately 500 times brighter than the full moon and was compared by the Brazilian Meteor Observation Network (BRAMON) to a small nuclear bomb.

Featured image: Trajectory of Massachusetts fireball on July 20, 2024. Credit: MEO