Meteor over Mid-Atlantic delights skywatchers from D.C. to New York

A magnificent meteor darted over the skies north of Washington around 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, delighting fortunate skywatchers.

It is probable that the meteor — or rock from space that entered Earth’s atmosphere — was a fireball, or particularly bright meteor. It was seen from Virginia to New York and even in parts of eastern Canada.

Dozens of eyewitnesses described the celestial spectacle on Capital Weather Gang’s Facebook page:

• “I saw it in Falls Church. Quite impressive! Very bright and then it looked like it may have exploded,” wrote Danny Farkas.
• “I saw it! Hagerstown, Md just as it disappeared into nothingness right above our neighborhood. Only lasted in visibility for me for about 5 seconds. I thought it might hit the ground, but I don’t think it did,” wrote Stephenie Constantine.
• “I saw it! So glad I’m not crazy! Driving north on 270 just before Rt. 85 in Frederick, MD. Bright streak then it sort of exploded in a bright light,” wrote Sandy Lukasiak Chaney.
• “I saw it about 6:50-55pm. Driving north on Route 234 bypass from Manassas toward I-66. It looked low altitude, and it burned out just before it fell below the horizon. It went from west to east. So cool!,” wrote Tom Eng.

According to more than 150 reports received by the American Meteor Society, which tracks such sightings, the meteor was visible as far west as eastern Ohio and as far north as Upstate New York. The greatest concentration of reports originated from Northern Virginia and central Maryland.

The American Meteor Society’s trajectory algorithm suggests the meteor was traveling from southwest to northeast through western Pennsylvania before it disintegrated in the atmosphere.

Fireballs dash across the sky every day in different parts of the world, many over the ocean, where they are never seen. Wednesday night’s fireball in the Mid-Atlantic is not an uncommon event; they’ve been spotted in the D.C. sky many times before.

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“Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight,” the American Meteor Society explains. “Those that occur at night also stand little chance of being detected due to the relatively low numbers of persons out to notice them.”

In early September, a brilliant fireball swept across parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania and was seen from Virginia to New York.

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