A large fireball ignited over Lake Erie last night

Special report from Robert Lunsford Follower American Meteor Society

Update: A few hours after this event, astronomers detected an asteroid just before it collided with Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. More about that fireball here.

Large fireball over Lake Erie

I just finished publishing 342 big reports Fireball – An exceptionally bright meteorite – that occurred over North America near the border between the United States and Canada. It happened at approximately 7 PM EDT (23 UTC) on the evening of October 21, 2024. The American Meteor Society has received the reports! Witnesses range from North Carolina west to Kentucky, north to Michigan, and east to New York.

Fireballs can appear very Bright, streaking across the dark night sky. And it’s always unexpected. The computer-generated path was from west to east over Lake Erie, the fourth largest lake by area among the five great lakes in North America (and the 11th largest lake in the world). The trail ended just offshore of Erie, Pennsylvania.

There’s a reason why fireballs appear from such a large area. That is, they appear at a high altitude of up to 50 miles (80 km). The Taurid meteor shower is currently active and above the horizon at that time of night. But this fireball was moving in a certain direction In exchange for supplies. This event was therefore most likely a random meteorite, and not associated with any known meteor shower.

There have been a lot of fireballs lately. But this is one of the biggest events to happen recently. If you’ve witnessed this or any other fireball, we encourage you to share your experience by filling out this link Report a fireball.

Watch the fireball on October 21 on video

The American Meteor Society has already received several photos and videos of the October 21 fireball. Find more on this page.

Ryan Connor From North Royalton, Ohio, I captured the fireball with two cameras.

John Olschlager This video was recorded from West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

video Recorded from Tillsonburg, Canada.

Brad Haig Fireball was also picked up from Toronto, Canada.

Walter White From Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she was also surprised by the fireball.

Bottom line: Witnesses described a large fireball over Lake Erie on October 21. The American Meteor Society had about 350 reports as of this writing. Thousands must have seen it!

Via American Meteor Society