Daylight fireball seen from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania
A daylight fireball was observed across multiple northeastern U.S. states at 18:34 UTC on April 7, 2026, producing 260 eyewitness reports and multiple videos and photographs. The object entered the atmosphere above the Atlantic Ocean and disintegrated over New Jersey after traveling more than 180 km (112 miles).
Daylight fireball seen from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania on April 7, 2026. Credit: Jamie Lynn Zanfardino
A daylight fireball was widely observed across the northeastern United States at 14:34 EDT (18:34 UTC) on April 7, with 260 reports submitted to the American Meteor Society (AMS) as well as 7 videos and 9 photographs.
Witnesses reported the object from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
NASA analysis places the first visible point of the meteor at an altitude of 76.8 km (47.7 miles) above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast near Mastic Beach on Long Island. The object moved southwest at approximately 13.5 km/s — about 48 600 km/h (30 100 mph).
The fireball traveled approximately 188 km (117 miles) through the upper atmosphere before disintegrating at an altitude of 43.9 km (27.3 miles) above the town of Galloway, north of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Observers across multiple states consistently described rapid motion from left to right and clear fragmentation during flight.
Several reports note bright green and blue coloration along the leading object, with trailing fragments showing red, orange, or white tones as they separated. Some observers noted short-lived persistent trains lasting a few seconds after passage.
An observer in Philadelphia described a “very bright flare-like object… with very clear fragmentation,” while another in New Jersey reported the object “breaking into multiple pieces” as it crossed the sky.
This event follows a series of fireballs reported over the United States in recent weeks, including a daylight meteor over Pennsylvania and Ohio on March 17, a bright event over the Houston, Texas area on March 21 associated with sonic booms and a meteorite fragment hitting a house, and earlier events over the southern United States on March 3 and the Indiana-Ohio border region on February 11.
Additional observations during the same period include a long-duration fireball over New Zealand’s South Island on February 10 and a bright meteor over western China on February 5.
This recent increase in observations is examined in an extensive AMS analysis of the Q1 2026 fireball surge.
References:
1 Fireball event 2543-2026 – AMS – April 7, 2026
2 Fireball event 20260407-183400 – NASA/NDC – April 7, 2026
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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