Bright meteor fireball explodes over Pennsylvania, sonic boom reported (VIDEOS)

Travis Kellar
PennLive
Sat, 02 Dec 2017 21:53 UTC

© M. Hankey, AMS

Pennsylvania meteor fireball on December 2, 2017.

If you were looking up at the sky at 3 a.m. Saturday, you may have seen a bright flash of light.

It turns out the flash was the result of a fireball meteor.

WGAL reports the fireball meteor was seen over most of the northeastern part of the country. Fireball meteors are brighter than normal meteors, and usually end with a flash as they disintegrate in the atmosphere.

Numerous photos and videos have made their rounds on social media.

Comment: The American Meteor Society (AMS) has received over 100 reports (#4827-2017) of this meteor fireball seen over NY, MD, PA, VA, OH, DE, CT, NJ, RI, WV, NH, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, MA, DC, Connecticut and Maryland on Saturday, December 2nd 2017 around 08:09 UT. Included in these reports, 11 people mention hearing an associated sound, such as a "boom" or "crackle".

As well as visible celestial bodies, it is probable that space rock fragments are also exploding in the atmosphere. See also: BOOM! Mysterious blasts rattling the skies are on the increase around the world - UPDATE at least 64 documented events (VIDEO)

These related articles are from just last week:

• Mysterious boom rattles windows in Caledonia, Mississippi
• Another unexplained boom heard in Alabama (Update)
• Unexplained loud 'booms' rattling houses bewilder southern Arizonians
• Two large meteor fireballs blaze over southern England, dozens of people report hearing a deafening boom (UPDATE)
• Loud, house-shaking boom heard in northern Illinois

Even NASA's own space data supports citizens' recent observations, namely the inconvenient fact that meteor fireballs are increasing dramatically.