'East Coast Meteor' Sweeps Across Northern Virginia Sky
Hundreds of people have reported seeing the enormous fireball Friday night.
Goodness, gracious—that really was a great ball of fire in the sky.
People all over Northern Virginia have reported spotting a fireball in the sky Friday night around 8 p.m. The American Meteor Society, at the time of this writing, has over 300 pending reports of a fireball.
Have a picture of tonight's fireball? Share it here!
Twitter and Facebook users described the amazing sight. @chuckywallace wrote, "Definitely saw it in Alexandria. My wife thought it was a flare! Very bright and lasted several solid seconds. There were two flashes as it continued to break apart."
Zane P., from Alexandria, wrote, "This one lasted a lot longer than most other fireballs I've seen. I expected sound as it kept getting closer, brighter and kept exploding. It exploded twice as it streaked across the sky."
So what is a fireball, anyway? Basically, it's a very bright meteor. The American Meteor Society describes it this way:
"A fireball is another term for a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude -4, which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus in the morning or evening sky. A bolide is a special type of fireball which explodes in a bright terminal flash at its end, often with visible fragmentation."
The society asks that anyone who spots a fireball record details on its website.
Cherie Wood
10:56 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
We saw it by Dulles Town Center!
L2
12:18 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Saw it in Stafford, VA! Brighter than a shooting star. Reminded me of 4th of July.
Victoria
12:34 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
saw it in Norfolk va!
smallworld
7:44 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
We saw it too, from the Plaza America parking lot. It seemed so low in the sky that I thought it was a firework or flare.
Robert McCall
7:50 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Saw it in Clifton, what an awesome sight!
Virginia Lanham
8:05 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
My son and I were traveling down Hoadley Road in Dale City Virginia when we saw, what we thought was a large shooting star! It seemed so close to us that I thought it would cause a huge fire when it landed! It was bright green ball of light, followed by a tail of orange as it flew though the sky! It was very beautiful! We both made a wish as it went out of sight!
Sara Bradley
8:12 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
We saw it steak by very low in the sky in Vienna, Va at 8:05pm near the old Magruders. Looked like a flare but moving much faster.
Dave Weir
9:15 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
I thought at first it was a plane going down, as we are in Dulles landing pattern, then the bright flash and it was gone!
NPK
10:55 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
I saw it ~ 8:00 while driving east on Windover Ave in Vienna. The fireball streaked with a long orangy / green tail .... AWESOME !...
NPK
francesca@allianceofsmallbusinesses.com
1:17 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Too bad scientists could not have alerted us to the light show. I would have been searching the sky for it if I know it was going to come near us.
Steve Wright
5:17 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
My son and I were out looking at the moon with his telescope about 815.... would have been a great sight to see. Darn!
Pawneepilot
5:59 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
In Vienna, traveling on 123 towards Tysons, my wife and I saw this (presumably) meteor. It was the brightest object I've ever seen, low in sky traveling West to East at about a 30 degree down angle. The entire event was about three seconds.
danielle
8:46 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
We saw it in Chesapeake, VA it looked like it had a tail on fire. We thought it was a plane at first! Very cool!
Bud Sichler
9:22 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Tonight.. friday night we saw a string of many objects, perhaps 50 fly over manassas va. They streamed from the north and proceeded south east. It was truely the most amazing thing I have ever seen. There have bee few reports. We called our neighbors and they witnessed it also.
Bud Sichler
9:22 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Woops I meant to say Saturday night. It just happened
Jaime
9:31 am on Sunday, March 24, 2013
We saw the same thing. Been trying to find out what they were. My 18 year old told me they were smaller meteors? My 9 year old wants to know for sure.
Steve Dingledine
10:24 am on Sunday, March 24, 2013
My wife saw it from downtown DC. She thought a plane was about to crash.