The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Fireball seen from Connecticut Saturday evening
More than 100 witnesses reported seeing a fireball shoot across the sky from Connecticut and other areas in the Northeastern United States on Saturday evening.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Meteor Watch Facebook page reported the fireball sighting on Sunday. People in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia have also reported seeing a bright meteor at around 9 p.m. EST, according to submissions to the American Meteor Society (AMS), a website that tracks astronomical sightings.
Viewers from East Haven, Fairfield and Northford were among the nearly 140 witnesses. “It took me by surprise how bright and apparent it was. It was partly cloudy outside, but the moon was also visible,” a witness from Fairfield wrote.
According to an analysis of the reports, the fireball became visible 50 miles above Mamaroneck in Westchester County, NASA wrote. It moved in the northern direction at 38,000 miles per hour before disintegrating at an altitude of 30 miles above Norvin Green State Forest in New Jersey.
The fireball was not associated with a currently active meteor shower, NASA wrote in the post Sunday. Fireballs are bright meteors that clash with the Earth’s atmosphere at a high speed, according to NASA.
These meteors typically have a brightness magnitude of -4 but have to be -6 to be visible in the sky, according to AMS. For reference, a full moon has a magnitude of -12.6.
According to the AMS meteor shower calendar, the active period for the Lyrids meteor shower began on Monday and will last through April 29. The meteors from the Lyrids shower are best seen in the northern hemisphere at dawn. The Lyrids are expected to peak on the night of April 21-22, when the moon will be 96% full.
The fireball sightings on Saturday are among the multiple celestial events that occurred in Connecticut and surrounding states last week, including the solar eclipse on Monday. Last Wednesday, people from Connecticut and other states reported seeing a green fireball last Wednesday morning at around 3:44 a.m.