Fireball In Sunday Night Sky Came From Asteroid Fragment

A dazzling display lit up the night above the New Hope-Lambertville area Sunday night as a fireball streaked across the sky.

The fireball was visible at approximately 9:20 p.m. across the mid-Atlantic.

Reports flooded in from hundreds of eyewitnesses across the region and recounted the event, according to the American Meteor Society and NASA.

LevittownNow.com, NewtownPANow.com, and NewHopeFreePress.com readers all reported seeing the streaking fireball in the sky.

The American Meteor Society said images of the event was captured by some around the mid-Atlantic. NASA’s Fireball Network and the Southern Ontario Meteor Network also captured some images of the object.

According to NASA, the fireball became visible at an altitude of 47 miles above Forest Hill, Maryland and traveled northwest at a speed of 36,000 mph. The meteor finished its short-lived journey above Gnatstown, Pennsylvania and disintegrated at a height of 22 miles. The distance from Bucks County was about 100 miles.

NASA estimated the fireball traveled just over 55 miles through the atmosphere.

The fireball was the result of a fragment that was about one foot in diameter and about 60 pounds. The object originated from an asteroid.

NASA said the fragment likely came from the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

The disintegration of the asteroid fragment had an energy equivalent of roughly 1 ton of TNT.

NASA said the pressure waves that came from the fragment traveling through the atmosphere was responsible for the booms and noises reported by some witnesses.