The night sky was lit up by a bright fireball that dropped from New Jersey’s night sky early on Wednesday morning. This event capped a week filled with natural phenomena, including the solar eclipse of Monday and the earthquake last week.
Video footage captured the fireball that many believe was a meteor or falling star. It lit up the night sky in New Jersey.
Around 3:45 am, the American Meteor Society (which allows contributors to submit “fireballs”) reported dozens of sightings across New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Michelle Griffith, who lives in Millville, New Jersey captured the video of the light flashing across the sky. The fireball appears for only a few moments and grows as it falls, before disappearing.
Many reports claimed witnesses saw a “bright, green flashing ball” fall from the sky.
A resident of Wall Township in New Jersey posted her security video to a local page on Facebook, showing the falling light.
One of the commenters in the group thought the fireball looked like a meteorite.
“Meteorites tend to burn green in the atmosphere due to their high iron, magnesium, and nickel content,” wrote the woman.
“Beautiful!” Another person wrote: “I’ve seen a few of them over the years.” “Great catch!”
These sightings occurred about a week before the Lyrids Meteor Shower.
The Lyrids meteor shower, which peaks in late April, is one of the oldest known meteor showers and has been observed for 2,700 years, according to NASA. It occurs when particles of dust are shed by the long-period Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher.
The sightings on Wednesday follow the solar eclipse that was visible in more than 90% of parts of the state on Monday.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake occurred last Friday near Lebanon, New Jersey. This is about 45 miles west of New York City, and 50 miles north of Philadelphia.
Skygazers in California were stunned last week when they saw a series of bright, fiery lights streaking through the night sky.
Later, a spokesperson for the U.S. Space Command confirmed that the fiery shower came from the Chinese Shenzhou 15 Orbital Module which was due to reenter Earth’s atmosphere near Los Angeles.
