Fireball Reported in Colorado Early this Morning

A fireball occurred over southern Wyoming/northern Colorado at 6:01 AM Mountain Daylight Time. The available eyewitness and video information indicates that the meteor moved from East to West at about 45,000 miles per hour and weighed a few pounds (2 to 4 pounds are the preliminary estimates). The fireball belongs to a class of meteors called Earthgrazers, which hit the Earth’s atmosphere at a very shallow angle. They can travel a considerable distance before getting low enough to completely burn up; the eyewitnesses state that this fireball lasted longer than 10 seconds, which matches grazer durations. No meteorites are expected to have been produced by this event – it was too small and too high to drop fragments on the ground.

The numerous reports are typical of fireballs occurring during morning or evening work commute, and are not indicative of the relative brightness of the meteor.

Earthgrazer Seen In The Southern Sky

Last night at 8:38:30 PM CDT, a basketball size meteoroid entered the atmosphere 63 miles above Columbia, South Carolina. Moving northwest at 78,000 miles per hour, it burned up 52 miles above the Tennessee country side, just north of Chattanooga. This fireball was not part of any meteor shower and belongs to a class of meteors called Earthgrazers. These meteors skim along the upper part of the atmosphere before burning up. This one travelled a distance of 290 miles, which is quite rare for a meteor.


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