Bright fireball over Pennsylvania, good chance of meteorites

A bright green fireball streaked across the sky over Maryland and Pennsylvania at 04:59 UTC (00:59 EDT) on September 17, 2017. The fireball lasted between 2 and 3 seconds and was followed by a sonic boom.

The event was seen primarily from Maryland and Pennsylvania but was also seen from New York, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, and Massachusetts.

The American Meteor Society received 180 reports by 12:00 UTC on September 19. 40 eyewitnesses said they observed fragmentation, 11 said they heard delayed sound while 13 said they heard a concurrent sound associated with the event.

Heatmap courtesy American Meteor Society

Based on the sonic boom reports, the magnitude of the meteor and the obvious visible fragmentation in the videos there is a good chance meteorites from this fall could have landed in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, AMS said.

Featured image: Bright fireball over Maryland and Pennsylvania on September 17, 2017. Credit: Charles Markarian