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A midday boom that was heard and felt from southern Ontario to Virginia was likely caused by a decaying meteor, according to an organization in western New York that tracks such phenomena. Witnesses in the area reported hearing the boom or seeing a fireball in the sky shortly after noon on Wednesday, said Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society in Geneseo.
By early Thursday, the organization had recorded more than 150 reports of the fireball seen in seven states. The group said the fireball was primarily seen in New York and Ontario, but also received reports from Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Lunsford told CBS affiliate WTVH that he estimated the fireball could have been the size of a small car, moving at least 10 miles per second. When it disintegrated 22 miles above the surface in western New York City, it produced a bright light. A camera from the CN Tower in Toronto captured a huge flash of light across the horizon.
Central New York City Police and Fire Departments received calls to 911 signaling a boom that shook windows, but clouds prevented sightings in much of the area. Given that most reports of the boom took place around Syracuse, this is likely where the meteor exploded to pieces, Lunsford said.
The trace of the event calculated by NASA shows that the fireball ended its visible flight somewhere over Cayuga Lake in New York, the American Meteor Society said.
American Meteor Society
On the company’s website, an observer from western New York City reported that the fireball was stark white with undertones of yellow. An observer in Hagerstown, Maryland reported a fireball with red and orange sparks, smoke, and a lingering train. A report from Welland, Ontario describes a long, light green train.
“Sunny day, so it looked like a golden metallic flash against the blue sky,” said a report from Winchester, Va.
“Amazing, incredible, we still get goosebumps talking about it,” wrote one observer in Port Dover, Ont. “The train was blazing white, wide and long, smokeless.”
“We tend to notice fireballs more at night because they stand out better, but it’s not terribly unusual for very bright balls to be noticed during the day. This happens several times a year in areas. populated, ”said Margaret Campbell-Brown, member of the Meteor Physics Group at Western University in London, Ont.
All of the fireballs, which are bright meteors, produce sound waves, sometimes detectable only by sensitive microphones, Campbell-Brown said via email. A large one can produce a thunder-like sound boom with possible extra bangs due to fragmentation, she said.
Fireball comes just days after seeing a burning meteor diving from the sky into vast areas of Japan, capture attention on television and on social networks.
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