Caught on Police Car Dash Cam: Meteor Fireball Lit Up the Northeastern US Sky (VIDEO)

Most of the time, celestial activities that lit up the skies are viewed using state-of-the-art telescopes and observation equipment, but last week authorities were swarmed with reports that there were sightings of a weird ball of fire in the Northeastern US sky. The reports were apparently true as a police dash camera managed to film the fireball, too.

Last May 17, a police dash cam from the Plattsburgh Police Department captured the video from the streets of Portland, Maine. From the video, a fireball lit the sky from the upper right corner of the screen. The fireball was spotted at around 12:50 am according to a report by Space.Com.

Experts who witnessed the event were quick to explain the phenomenon. Experts who witnessed the event were quick to explain that the fireball is actually a meteor. "Fireball detected by @westernu meteor cameras last night. Probable meteorite fall" said Peter Brown, meteor scientist and planetary astronomer of the Western University said in a Tweet.

Fireball detected by @westernu meteor cameras last night. Probable meteorite fall https://t.co/gGuKSr8ldb #meteor pic.twitter.com/vlQgTDxqgm
— Peter Brown (@pgbrown) May 17, 2016

There were more than 700 reports claiming that they witnessed a strange fireball lit up the sky said the American Meteor Society (AMS) in a statement. AMS said that the fireball was seen from Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ontario and Québec. AMS was able to estimate the possible trajectory of the meteorite using triangulation method and recreate a heatwave map of where the fireball was spotted based on the reports of witnesses.

Although the location where the meteor landed is not known, the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum (MMGM) said that they will offer a $20,000 reward to whoever can locate the meteorite that fell last May 17.

"This is an exciting opportunity and we need the public's help," said Barbra Barrett, the museum director in a statement on their Facebook Page. Today a team of hunters is looking for the remains of the meteorite which they believed landed near North of Rangeley.