Meteor sighted over northern Schuylkill, eastern seaboard Wednesday night
PHOTO COURTESY / PETER R. - A screencap of a video provided to the American Meteor Society showing a meteor over the skies of Long Island, New York on Wednesday, July 24. The same meteor was sighted over Shenandoah and other parts of our area.
Sentinel Staff Reports
SHENANDOAH – If you were outside last night around 11:00pm and looking towards the eastern skies, you may have seen what some have described as a special sight.
At 11:04pm, at least 360 people from near Augusta, Maine, Burlington, Vermont, all the way to near Apex, North Carolina, as well as some from northern Schuylkill County saw a fireball streak through the night sky.
According to the American Meteor Society, by 5:00pm Thursday, 361 reports had been received about the event, and, according to gathered data, they estimated the fireball flew over the Atlantic Ocean, the eastern tip of Long Island, and crossed Connecticut before dissipating. The AMS describes a fireball as “another term for a very bright meteor.”
Sentinel journalist Kaylee Lindenmuth reported sighting the object in the eastern sky while walking in the area of West Penn and North Vine Streets, seeing a small light appearing to be an airplane moving south to north at a considerable speed before growing into a bright bluish white ball with an orange tail, vanishing within a few seconds.
Area residents also reported seeing the fireball from the Ringtown Valley, the Shenandoah helipad, and on Interstate 81.
A Long Island resident, identified as Peter R., caught the fireball on a security camera and submitted the video to the AMS.
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