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Fireball seen north of Los Angeles, southern California

fireball-seen-north-of-los-angeles-southern-california

Image credit: E. Rosen, AMS

More than 80 people submitted their eyewitness reports to the American Meteor Society (AMS) after a bright fireball streaked through the night sky over southern California at 02:49 UTC on March 21, 2021 (19:49 PDT, March 20).

According to NASA Meteor Watch, the meteor was first spotted 96 km (60 miles) above Church Dome in the Sequoia National Forest northeast of Bakersfield.

Video courtesy E. Rosen, AMS

It moved south of east at 138 400 km/h (86 000 mph) before ablating 69 km (43 miles) above Goldstone, traveling a total distance of 140 km (87 miles) in just under 4 seconds.

California fireball heatmap March 21, 2021. Credit: AMS

I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.

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One Comment

  1. On April 30, 2021, my grandson and I were in the jacuzzi around 7:30-8:00pm when we saw a HUGE orange/red ball going across the sky (not down from the sky). I did not have my phone unfortunately, so no photos. But it was definately red, not white, and it did not have a trail behind it. Just a big red/orange ball going horizontally across the sky. I can’t find anything about it on the internet. Hopefully someone else saw it too!

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