Video appears to show ‘fireball’ meteor shooting across Virginia sky

Dashcam footage captured the moment when a meteor lit up the Virginia night sky.

Ryan Ramgobin
Monday 01 February 2016 18:50 GMT
Comments
Video appears to show ‘fireball’ meteor shooting across Virginia sky

Your support helps us to tell the story

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Head shot of Andrew Feinberg

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Dashcam footage has emerged showing the moment a ‘fireball’ meteor lit up the night sky in Virginia.

Alexander Salvador, who captured the footage, says it took place at 6.16pm on Saturday evening.

“This looks like something burning up, falling down around the DC area. Snip from my dash cam.”

According to the American Meteor Society (AMS), “More than 330 witnesses have reported a large fireball over Pennsylvania”

“The fireball was seen from primarily New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but witnesses from Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Delaware, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and even Ontario also reported seeing the fireball.”

The term ‘fireball’ is used to describe a “very bright meteor”, which the AMS defines as “generally brighter than magnitude -4, which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus in the morning or evening sky.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in