As many stepped outside to catch a glimpse of four astronauts heading to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, they got another surprise. A fireball.
This was likely space rock entering the Earth’s atmosphere, it is possible that this was a small bit of orbital debris. Though the next sizable peirce of debris anticipated to reenter, a deactivated Starlink satellite launched last year, isn’t expected to reenter for several days according to Aerospace Corporation which tracks these objects.
The object brightens significantly, appearing to break up near the horizon. Scientists refer to objects this bright, using the planet Venus as a comparison, as bolides or fireballs. If this space rock survived the fall, which is very unlikely, the remaining peic(es) that make it to the ground are known as meteorites.
More than 250 reports have come in from people mostly from North Carolina and Virginia. Reports indicate the fireball was visible from South Carolina to Pennsylvania.
If you saw the meteor, report what you saw to the American Meteor Society. Crowd sourced reports are used to estimate a trajectory.