More Than 300 People Spot Falling Fireball

More than 300 US citizens reported seeing a blazing ball of light streak across the night sky last weekend, with some observers seeing a flash that was so bright that it briefly turned night into day.

According to the American Meteor Society (AMS), people from as many as 12 states along the East Coast saw a meteor tear through our atmosphere, only to burn up in a brilliant flash before it could touch down.

The event occurred Sunday, Sept 14. around 10.55 pm EDT. It was a particularly clear night along the East Coast, allowing for easy visibility. The AMS is reporting that this was likely a random occurrence, not associated with any known asteroid fly-bys, celestial collisions, or dying satellites.

Still, the experts add that it has been estimated that nearly 200 of these events happen every week, but often occur over our vast oceans, during the daytime, or in low visibility regions where they can be easily missed.

So what just is a fireball? Most call "fireballs" particularly bright meteors, streaking through Earth's atmosphere with an intense burn because of their size, composition, or simple trajectory. These balls traditionally burn out of existence very quickly, or end in dramatic air bursts, in which the building forces of friction it was fighting during decent suddenly become too much.

That is likely what happened with this most recent space rock, which winked out of existence only after exploding so violently that it temporarily lit entire neighborhoods in Pennsylvania. (Scroll to read on...)

[Credit: Jesse Ferrell/weatherwatchers.org]

Nature World News recently reported how NASA is currently coming under fire for frequently not seeing events like this coming. While the great majority of these meteors never make it to Earth, the few that do - occurring every three to four decades - can cause significant damage to local areas. Unfortunately, a recent audit found that the agency is only capable of noticing one in 10 of these potential strikes on average.

The AMS says that we are more likely to notice fireballs in the sky as our nights become longer. You can watch footage of this most recent event here, caught by a News 12 camera over northern New Jersey.