A spectacular 'fireball' was spotted burning up in the Northeast sky
(Alexander Salvador/YouTube screenshot)
Hundreds of people spotted a fireball streaking through the sky at about 6:16 p.m. Saturday evening, ABC news reports.
The meteor was primarily visible in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but there were also witnesses in Virginia, Washington, DC, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Delaware, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ontario, according to the American Meteor Society.
Several witnesses, including Alex Salvador in Falls Churs, Virginia, captured the meteor's stunning descent on their car dashboard cameras:
"It seemed close, big, and definitely on fire with a tail," Salvador told ABC.
A "fireball" is a very bright type of meteor that is even brighter than the planet Venus appears from earth. A few thousand fireballs burn up in Earth's atmosphere every day, but most of them happen over oceans or uninhabited areas, or are invisible because they happen during the day when they are blocked out by sunlight.
Fireballs as bright as this one are rarely seen.
Many people reported the fireball on the AMS website, saying it had colorful fragments and looking like it "fell apart or exploded," according to ABC.
If you spotted the fireball, you can report it here.
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