Huge fireball lights up skies over US and Canada with HUNDREDS of sightings of surprise space blaze
A HUGE fireball has been filmed soaring across the night sky in Tennessee. The meteor crossed our skies earlier this week and sparked 120 fireball sightings over 12 US states. It was even reportedly spotted flying over Canada. The celestial event happened around 9:42pm EDT June 7 (2:42am BST, June 8). According to a ground track […]
A HUGE fireball has been filmed soaring across the night sky in Tennessee.
The meteor crossed our skies earlier this week and sparked 120 fireball sightings over 12 US states.
It was even reportedly spotted flying over Canada.
The celestial event happened around 9:42pm EDT June 7 (2:42am BST, June 8).
According to a ground track by the American Meteor Society (AMS), it soared over southern Ohio.
It was also said to be visible for 3.5 seconds as far south as South Carolina.
Sightings were also reported in Ontario, Canada.
The video was filmed in Knoxville, Tennessee, and shows just how quickly the celestial light show was over.
AMS tweeted the video and wrote: “Fireball caught over Knoxville, TN last night.
“This fireball has been [seen] from IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA, WV & Ontario!”
The two second video was reportedly captured by witness Austin R. who was in a moving vehicle at the time.
The next big meteor shower will be August’s Perseid meteor display.
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)
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In other news, scientists think they’ve found a potentially habitable exoplanet.
Elon Musk has said a Starship to put Americans on Mars is now a ‘top priority’.
And, Nasa has revealed the design of a moon lander that could be taking astronauts back to the lunar surface by 2024.
Are you an avid stargazer? Let us know in the comments…
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