Fireball disintegrates over North Carolina

RALEIGH, NC. (WNCN) — A fireball disintegrated over North Carolina this week. Witnesses throughout the state described a firework-like crackling object.

According to NASA Meteor Watch, the fireball was last seen at the North Carolina/Virginia border on June 25 around 9:30 p.m.

Eyewitnesses in North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have filed reports on the American Meteor Society website of a bright meteor seen last evening.

NASA Meteor Watch said the event was also detected by a NASA meteor camera located at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in western North Carolina and several publicly accessible cameras in the region.

A woman in North Carolina reported to NASA, “I saw this while driving but it was clear as day how it looked in the sky. No clouds or trees blocked my line of sight.”

She described a glowing train with a firework-like trail.

Another person in Knightdale reported, “Looked like sparks of various colors and the flash was quick and beautiful.”

In Pittsboro, an observer described what they saw as a “bright flash towards the end right before the crackling sound.”

A man in Charlotte said in his report, “My first thought was a firework. It was the lowest and closest meteor I’ve ever seen. Quickly realized it wasn’t a firework it was headed towards the ground and very very fast bright green and orange. Lasted around a second. “

NASA Meteor Watch said an analysis incorporating the available data places first visibility for the fireball at an altitude of 48 miles above the town of Allen Grove in northern North Carolina.

NASA said moving west of North at 32,000 miles per hour and descending at a steep angle of 53 degrees with respect to the horizontal, the object only managed to travel 40 miles through the atmosphere before disintegrating 28 miles above Roanoke Rapids Lake, just south of the North Carolina/Virginia border.

Click here to read more eyewitness reports.

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