The American Meteor Society has received over 60 reports of a bright meteor that occurred near 06:10 CDT on Tuesday morning October 30, 2012, over the southern mid-western states. Reports were received as far south as Alabama and Louisiana, as far north as Illinois, as far east as Kentucky and Tennessee, and as far west as Texas and Oklahoma. Brightness estimates of this fireball vary considerably, but the average lies near magnitude -13, which is equivalent to the light produced by the full moon. Several colors have been reported with green being the most predominant. Summaries of individual reports may be viewed in the 2012 AMS Fireball Table Refer to event #1677 for 2012.

We are near the peak time of year for Taurid meteors, which are known to produce colorful fireballs. Bill Cooke of the NASA Meteoroid Environments Office reports that this fireball was most likely a member of the Taurid meteor shower, which is active during October and November. He provides the following details:

A ball of fire, a possible meteor, was seen falling out of the sky over the Seattle area Wednesday night, authorities said. Residents north of Seattle, off Interstate 5's Exit 212 near Arlington, saw something coming apart in the sky, police and the Washington State Patrol said.

No planes were reported missing, and nothing was found by police.

"We are clearing the scene and assuming it is a meteor, unless we hear otherwise," the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said in a tweet.

On the Q13 FOX News Facebook page, Aaaron Porcaro wrote, "I saw it in south Seattle. It was super big and bright!!! It was traveling from the southwest to the northeast."

"We saw it trick-or-treating in Renton!" wrote Sandra Jean Feaser, referring to the southern suburb of Renton.

"Told you I wasn't seeing things," wrote Stacey Schwartfigure.

A viewer, Monica Jeffries, wrote this to the Q13 FOX News tips line:

"While on I-5 northbound at around the Kent Des Moines exit - I was on my way to the airport - I saw to my right a big ball/bright light fall from the sky. At first I thought it was a plane falling down so I became really concerned and was waiting for the big impact or explosion and then to my surprise this big light presented some sort of a 'tail' and then just like that it turned into a big greenish ball and then it disappeared.

"Anyway, this jus in case you receive anymore sightings from somebody else. Otherwise I guess I must be crazy and now I'm seeing weird things falling from the sky. Hahaha Thanks!"

A magnetic piece of rock stirred up controversy last week, but scientists confirmed, and reconfirmed, that the mysterious object in Novato residents Lisa and Kurt Webber's backyard was a meteorite. And to prove it, a second was discovered just miles from the Webbers' home.

Webber gave the meteorite to her neighbor Glenn Rivera as a birthday gift. He helped her analyze the chunk before calling scientists. The meteorite broke off from the meteor shower that blazed over the night sky at approximately 7:44 p.m. on Oct. 17. It also happened to be Rivera's birthday.

"As a result, Glenn was asked by the scientific team to ride in the airship Eureka from Moffett Field on Friday," said Leigh Blair, Rivera's mother. "They flew over Novato and all the way up to Lake Berryessa, following the calculated trajectory of the meteor, looking for signs of larger meteorites on the ground."

Update on reports of fireball earlier in the sky from Dr. Bill Cooke of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center:

"This was NOT a Taurid meteor; probably a random interloper from the asteroid belt. Doppler weather radar shows a meteoritic "rain", indicating that there are meteorites on the ground in Alabama. The radar signature is stronger than the recent California fireball, which produced meteorites in the San Francisco area. We are still working out a precise location for the meteor impact."

Though the meteor was not from the Taurid Meteor shower, there was one that was from the Taurid Meteor Shower that passed over parts of eastern and central Tennessee just after 6:00 am. Below is a statement from Dr. Bill Cooke and an image of the path of the fireball.

"So the bolide appeared some 44 miles above a point midway between the towns of Stanton and Mason, and moved slightly north of east at a speed 3 times faster than that of the International Space Station, finally terminating above the town of Pinson, which is southeast of Jackson, TN. Altitude at last visibility was 18.1 miles, which is fairly low for a meteor."

Multiple reports on social media and phone calls have come into the station about a fireball in the sky late this afternoon and early this evening. Actually this is not the first report of a fireball in the sky today, there were reports of a fireball earlier today in Arkansas. Two meteor showers occur during the month of October, one which was the Orionid Meteor shower that peaked a couple weeks ago. The second is the Taurid Meteor Shower that started October 20th. NASA states that, "Taurids are slow, and you might see bright fireballs. The Orionids are fast and mostly faint." The Taurid Meteor Shower does not peak until November 10th and even then only seven meteors per hour are expected. So obviously it is more modest, but long lasting meteor shower. Likely the fireball seen in the sky early this evening was a meteor. The Taurid Meteor Shower is an annual meteor shower that radiates from the constellation Taurus the bull, hence it's name, as Earth passes through debri from the comet Encke.

Alabama residents across the state have reported the sight of a meteor or fire ball at about 5:40 this evening.

Holly Britton, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Birmingham, confirmed that several people have called the station to report similar sightings. Britton said she has received calls from as far north as Winston, Ala. and as far south as Clanton. The local radar, however, did not pick up anything significant, she said.

Fox 6 reports that the Blount County Sherriff has received confirmation from the Birmingham Emergency Management Agency that the streaks of light reported were in fact caused by a meteor shower.

Earlier today, James Spann tweeted that more than 300 Alabama residents have reported the sighting on his Facebook page.

According to space.com, the sightings could be attributed to the Taurid meteors, sometimes called the "Halloween fireballs," because they appear each year between mid-October and mid-November.

Recent booms and flashing lights across the Tennessee Valley have some people wondering what all the ruckus in the sky is.

According to NASA, it's the perfect time of the year for scattered meteor showers.

A fireball was spotted across the sky in Jackson, Tennessee, Tuesday morning; it could be seen from Kentucky, Alabama and even Louisiana, according to Bill Cooke with NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office.

A fireball, also a meteor, is given a separate name because of its brightness. In order to be classified as a fireball, the meteor must be brighter than the planet Venus.

Cooke said this fireball was brighter than the moon.

Meteor Sighting Reports:

25 OCT 2012 Ryan Keswick - Ontario, Canada 2140 Eastern

Duration: 2-4 seconds. Facing North, object was seen NW moving NE. Bright yellow, brighter than Venus. Yes, some parts fragmenting behind it. Object was very visible in the sky, even with lights from the town.

25OCT2012 davies - Barrie, Ontario, Canada 21:50:00

Duration: 3 seconds. Facing north. It looked like it fell down to the ground. White colour, no sound, very bright. It looked like it had a long tail of white sparks. It looked very close, like it would have fallen within 20 kms north of Barrie.

NASA Report by Dr. Bill Cooke:

Very bright event at 05:24:38 UTC on October 26 (1:24:38 AM EDT), rivalling Moon. Flash seen by our cameras even through dense clouds

Trajectory analysis indicates this could be a South Taurid (a bit on the fast side). Details are:

Speed: 36.0 +/- 2 km/s
Radiant coordinates: 44.0 +/- 2 deg RA, 17.0 +/- 0.5 deg Dec
Start location: 83.872 W, +34.517 at an altitude of 102.9 km
*End location: 83.940 W, +34.599 at an altitude of 72.9 km

End location is the last point we could determine before the flare got so huge it was impossible to determine the center of light. The meteor lasted several frames beyond this.

Probably too fast and too high to produce meteorites, but I will wait to see if there is a doppler signature.

Regards,

Bill Cooke
Meteoroid Environments Office
EV44, Marshall Space Flight Center

The 2012 Orionid meteor shower peaked early Sunday, October 21, with forecasters predicting up to 25 meteors an hour for patient stargazers. Canyon Lake photographer Dennis Bickers wasn't exactly trying to be a stargazer but he believes he got a good shot of a large meteor passing across the western sky just after sunset Sunday.

Asked whether it could have been the setting sun shining on a jet contrail, Dennis says he would have known the difference - the meteor was traveling too fast to be a jet.

The next major meteor shower to light up the night sky will be the annual Leonid meteor shower in mid-November. It will peak on November 17.

To see or purchase Dennis Bickers' pictures of Canyon Lake, visit gobickers.com.