News
New England Fireball
A large, bright, long duration fireball was seen and reported by hundreds of witnesses last night across New England (January 12th 2014, 5:20pm EST - 22:20 UT.) Witnessed reported the brightness greater than the full moon.
The fireball was seen from primarily Connecticut, but witnesses from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island also reported seeing the fireball.
AMS Event #92-2014 - Heat Map
Coastal observers were all pointing inland and based on an averaging of the witness reports, it appears the fireball entered over southwest Vermont and headed mostly north terminating over Rutland county.
AMS Event #92-2014 Trajectories
If you saw this fireball, please fill out an official fireball report with the AMS. To learn more about fireball meteors read our Fireball FAQ.
23 comments
Sheila ·
My Grandson Mayson, who is 7 saw it last nite in Middleboro, while we were outside playing. He said Nunna I just saw a flying light, I said maybe it was a shooting star and he said then there was a bunch all at once..He was very enthusiastic about it..
Steve Lempitski ·
Thanks for confirmation…Was heading up route 3 in Plymouth MA on way to Logan airport and saw the fireball around sunset….It was so low and bright on the horizon at first I thought somebody shot off fireworks….most amazing fireball Ive ever seen!
Lorraine Sumner ·
On 12/16/13 a friend and I were driving West from Lincolnville Center, Maine. It was 5:15 as we left, with very dark clouds over head. We proceeded on to Rt. 173 towards Augusta, Maine, I noticed, in the very dark sky, many drifting, long horizontal white clouds. They were so uniform that it didn't seem as if they were formed by airplanes because they were more or less evenly spaced and quite low. It was so unusual It now makes me think that they could have some how been related to the fireball. I'm sorry I did not take a picture. I'd be happy to provide more information upon request. Sincerely, L. Sumner
Mrinal ·
Hi Guys,
I just reported my reported my report to the AMS! I saw "green fireball" of light yesterday in Hartford Connecticut. Me and my husband had stopped at a red signal when we saw this!
Thanks to whoever reported this.
Judy Thompson ·
My granddaughters and I saw this while traveling home through in Orono, Maine
Shelby ·
I saw this last night in Oxford CT!
joseph stoddart ·
We were driving nw in upper hamphire county mass it was 60 degrees from the horizon and was a big ball of fire that was very bright very bright it looked like it was going into vermont the entire thing lasted no more than 8 seconds wow
Sara Campbell ·
We saw the large,slow moving meteor on the east end of Long Island, NY at close to 6pm last night.
Janice ·
I saw this on a Jet Blue flight originating from Fort Lauderdale, descending into Providence Airport around 5 pm. At first I thought it was a plane doing a nose dive, then I saw it crumble like fireworks, it was amazing. I wanted to ask the pilot if he saw something, but I thought he would think I was crazy!!! I guess I'm not
rob lehnert ·
I saw it on the north fork of Long Island as we were finishing up duck hunting.
Tony ·
Hi Mike, Are you sure there was not more than one? We witnessed a very bright one here in CT at 5:46pm EST (that was the time on my car clock). When I went to the website to log, I saw several Northeast logs for 5:10pm EST (and a few for 5:45pm EST) and you are reporting it as 5:20pm EST. Is there anyway it could be the same one with such a large time difference between sightings? Regards, T.
Lori Towle ·
I not only saw the Jan 12th fireball from Plum Island, MA, but also happened to have my daughter's camera in hand! We were catching pics of a snowy white owl when I happened to be looking in the right place at the right time. I snapped a pic of it, and it was on the news. If you goto Charlie Lopresti WGME on Facebook, you can see the pic. It was so amazing!
Vincent Perlerin ·
Tony,
When we receive large numbers of reports it is not uncommon to get a 2 hour spread in the reported time. Some folks are a bit careless when reporting and some admit to just guessing. It would be extremely unlikely to have 2 separate events of this magnitude so close in time and location.
Robert Lunsford American Meteor Society
David Kekacs ·
I saw this fireball too and reported it right away it was most amazing thing I've ever seen brilliant Green lasted at least 8 seconds I was do excited my wife thought I was cracking up!!! So cool thanks to all wrote in I'm not crazy!!
Sara Iversen ·
Anyone see one early this morning (1/15/14) around 6am? I'm certain I did as it was orange in hue and much larger than a shooting star. This was in NJ, just outside NYC. Amazing.
Steve Ueland ·
While driving North on Taconic Parkway just South of Columbia County NY at about 5:20 PM I saw to the Northwest a very large fireball moving mostly North and heard what sounded like a sonic boom shortly (about 90 seconds) later.
Mary Myers ·
As I reported to the AMS on Sunday (Jan.12) night, at 5:45 P.M. I saw in the western sky a very bright, large object moving FROM NORTH to SOUTH as seen from Brewster, MA, on Cape Cod. The head was pale yellow, the tail orange & appeared to be flaming. It took about 10-12 seconds to pass my view, went behind some trees just as the tail seemed to fragment & light up some thin clouds. I am wondering if this was the same fireball which is described in the AMS website as moving TO the north; this was definitely moving to the south or south/west.
matt ·
Thanks for the link, great pic!
CHRISTINE SARGENT ·
YOU ARE ONE OF A VERY FEW. I ALSO SAW THE FIREBALL HERE IN RIVERHEAD BUT ONLY 3-4 OTHER PEOPLE REPORTED SEEING IT. I WONDER WHERE IT CAME FROM AND WHERE IT LANDED, EH!!?
ryan L. ·
there must be some video footage of this event some where, with all the cameras that are all over the place its hard to believe that its not on some computer hard drive some where, I wonder if i checked with the local university and asked if they had any north by north east facing cameras on record that night. maybe worth a try. i would love to be able to show some friends what i tried to describe to them.....
Rowena Goodhue ·
I just saw a very low and very bright Yellow and Orange long tail fireball moving west. I am in Boscawen, NH. I would love to know who else saw this. It seemed so low - as if it would land in the swamp across the street.
Maddie ·
When is the next fireball in New Hampshire?
Vincent Perlerin ·
Maddie and All,
Unlike meteor showers, fireballs cannot be predicted. Their occurrence is random and to see one requires some luck. Your best bet to catch a fireball would be during one of the major annual meteor showers. The next one will occur on the night of August 11/12, when the annual Perseid meteor shower reaches maximum activity.
I hope this helps!
Robert Lunsford
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