© American Meteor Society
The red line is the estimated trajectory of the bolide, which is a meteor that explodes in the atmosphere. The green pins indicate where the trajectory started and the red pins indicate where it ended. The human-looking icons represent each of the eight reports that the American Meteor Society received of the event. The direction of the icon represents where each person was “standing” when the bolide was spotted. .
The red line is the estimated trajectory of the bolide, which is a meteor that explodes in the atmosphere. The green pins indicate where the trajectory started and the red pins indicate where it ended. The human-looking icons represent each of the eight reports that the American Meteor Society received of the event. The direction of the icon represents where each person was “standing” when the bolide was spotted. .
Jordan Dowers of Olympia, Wash., was driving along Interstate 80 near Laramie with his father when they spotted it about 10:45 p.m.
"The first thing we noticed is the sky lit up really bright," said Dowers, 23. "At first it was, 'Where did that lightning strike come from?' Then it was much, much brighter than lightning. From the south, it was neon blue. It looked like it was going to hit the ground. Then it just disappeared."
Eight witnesses reported the event to the American Meteor Society, including people as far away as Idaho and Colorado.
Technically, the meteor is called a bolide, said society volunteer Mike Hankey, who lives in Baltimore.
Comment: And there was an earthquake around the same time/area: Earthquake Magnitude 4.2 - 28km W of Soda Springs, Idaho. Interestingly, the technical data from USGS shows a Depth of +/- 11.3km with an uncertainty of =/- 10.9km...
Also, do not confuse the fact that more fireballs events are taking place with the fact that more people are becoming aware of them. It's not that more fireballs are being observed due to more people looking out for them; more fireballs are being observed because more fireball events are happening!