Over 100 report seeing large meteor fireball over Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia

Jeff Booth
WBNS
Mon, 07 Oct 2019 18:09 UTC

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If you saw a fireball streak across the sky on Saturday evening you're not alone.10TV received several reports from people in central Ohio who saw a bright meteor with a long trail across the sky.

The American Meteor Society says it received more than 130 reports about the fireball, seen over Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

It was likely a product of the South Taurid meteor shower.

The shower is caused by leftover debris from Comet Encke. It's not very active, you're lucky to see five to seven meteors an hour at its peak, but it is known to produce fireballs.

Those are very bright meteors and they've been known to leave long streaks across the sky with this shower.

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The shower itself peaks later this week - Wednesday night into Thursday morning - but has a large window of activity. It's typically active from September 10th to November 20th.

This year's peak coincides with a waxing gibbous moon which will wash out all but the brightest meteors. However, because it's active for so long we'll still have a shot at seeing fireballs through the month and into next month.

Comment: On October 5th, the American Meteor Society received 119 reports of a meteor over the southeastern US.

We received 119 reports about a fireball seen over AL, FL, GA, NC, SC and TN on Saturday, October 5th 2019 around 10:26 UT.

AMS member Salvatore T. caught the fireball on his doorbell camera: