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(CBS4) – The Colorados as far west as Evergreen, north to Wellington, as far east as Bennet and as far south as Colorado Springs captured an incredible view on their security cameras early Sunday morning. A fireball crossed the sky around 4:30 a.m.
According to NASA’s definition, a fireball is an unusually bright meteor.
Josh Ellis at Evergreen shared videos of a flashlight lighting up his neighborhood. He said the light was bright enough to charge their solar lights.
Andrew Fisher, who lives in Wellington, filmed everything with his Nest security camera. So are Doug Robinson and Kate Newberg from Boulder.
“It was all in total darkness, and all of a sudden it lit up like it was a brightly lit moon,” Robinson said.
As of Sunday afternoon, the American Meteor Society had received 41 reports of the fireball from across the Front Range. About 6 people described hearing a boom, an employee told CBS4.
“So that means it was actually going down very deep,” said Chris Peterson, who works at the Cloudbait Observatory in Guffey. “10 or 20 miles may not seem very close to the ground, but when we think of the typical burning stars, we see things burning up to 60 to 70 miles high.”
The equipment at the Cloudbait Observatory also recorded the fireball crossing the sky. Peterson, who also works as a research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, said the event only happened once every few years in a single area.
“It’s unusual for such a large object,” said Peterson. “I guess it was somewhere around the order of a ton of rock, probably, that came in, so it’s a big chunk of stuff.”
Peterson said it was likely the fireball was somewhere between the northern part of Park County and Boulder. Typically, about 90-95% of a meteor will turn to dust. Pieces that fall to the ground typically range from the size of gravel to the size of a baseball, he said.
“Whether or not something is found remains to be seen, but there is a good chance that there are at least several kilograms of material on the ground,” he said.
Peterson said this event should be a reminder to watch from time to time.
“[It’s] an amazing little piece of nature that you should relish having seen. ”
Erica Oosthoek shared her video of Wolf Ranch in Colorado Springs. Its camera is facing north.
Shari Breckenfeld captured the Loveland phenomena near the foothills. His camera is facing south.
Cory Breider’s Nest Camera faces west at Bennet’s south end.
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