‘Beautiful’ green fireball flies over farmhouse at 70,000 mph, Pennsylvania video shows
A "very bright" green fireball dazzled witnesses in states across the Midwest, Northeast and as far north as Canada before vanishing from the night sky, NASA says and video shows.
Hundreds reported seeing the Oct. 5 fireball to the American Meteor Society, but video taken at a Pennsylvania farmhouse captured clearly what so many have tried to describe.
The video, taken in Centerville shortly before midnight, shows a vibrant ball of light zip into view almost out of nowhere — appearing from behind a grain silo at a downward angle, as if it's about to crash, but continues on until it disappears into the distance.
The American Meteor Society received witness reports from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and New York, as well as Ontario and Quebec.
"It was so bright... as if someone was shining a beam of light into my car. I looked up and saw such a radiant glow. Almost as if I could touch it," a resident of Mount Sterling, Ohio, told the AMS.
"It reminded me somewhat of a firework coming down. Only it was very bright and I have never seen anything like it," an Illinois witness said. "It was beautiful. I almost didn't trust my eyes because it was so brief."
The fireball caught NASA's attention as well. According to the agency, the object first appeared 60 miles above Lake Erie , moving at 70,000 miles per hour.
It moved south, covering a distance of 72 miles before disintegrating 24 miles in the air above Mohicanville, Ohio, NASA said. Mohicanville is a roughly 80-mile drive northeast from Columbus.
Although the fireball put on a big, dramatic display in the earth's atmosphere, it was actually quite small.
"The orbit and light curve suggest that this fireball was produced by (a) piece from a Jupiter family comet approximately 11 inches in diameter with a weight of 66 lbs," NASA said.
