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Bright, daytime fireball streaking over N.E. reported by hundreds in nine states

A bright daytime fireball streaking over the Northeast Wednesday afternoon was reported by almost 200 people throughout the region, including Massachusetts, and might have passed over the Boston area.
A bright daytime fireball streaking over the Northeast Wednesday afternoon was reported by almost 200 people throughout the region, including Massachusetts, and might have passed over the Boston area.

A bright daytime fireball streaking over the Northeast Wednesday afternoon was reported by almost 200 people throughout the region, including Massachusetts, and might have passed over the Boston area, American Meteor Society operations manager Mike Hankey said.

The society’s computer model showed that the fireball traveled in a northeast to southwest path over Long Island before falling in the area of Nantucket Canyon, an underwater valley in the Atlantic Ocean.

But Hankey said the model was ”lopsided” because of observations coming from only one side of the fireball as it fell along the coast, and the object was probably “traveling from the Boston area south” down the coast before it fragmented and hit the ocean.

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The American Meteor Society received reports of the fireball, which traversed the Northeast sky around 3 p.m. Wednesday, from 197 people in nine states. Reports came from places as far-ranging as Troy, N.Y., Portsmouth, N.H., and Fruitland, Md. Dozens of observations came from New England, including nearly 40 in Massachusetts.

Fireball sighters around the state seemed excited to have witnessed the event, posting observations on the American Meteor website.

“It was so bright and the colors were amazing,” said Jo Ann W., an observer on Nantucket, according to the meteor society.

“So cool!” said Tara E., also on the island.

“It was an awesome sight,” David S. in Webster said.

“This was the most remarkable and extraordinary sight I have ever witnessed in the sky,” Annie S. in Harvard said. “I thought then maybe it was an explosion, but it was not a plane or an animal. It definitely was fireball looking. Wow!!!”

Some were amazed to see such a bright fireball shoot down in daylight.

“Was surprised to see one during the day and so low and so bright on a bright sunny day,” Kathy B. in Newton said. “At first I wasn’t sure what it was. Very cool tho.”

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“It was awesome, first time I saw one in the daytime,” Matthew H. in Bernardston said.

“I thought maybe [I] was going crazy,” Ray J. in Foxborough said.

A fireball is a very bright meteor, defined by the International Astronomical Union as having an absolute magnitude of -4 and greater, or brighter than the planet Venus. For comparison, the society lists the moon’s brightness as between magnitudes -9.4 and -12.6.

The brightness results from meteors traveling at speeds of tens of thousands of miles per hour through space being slowed during entry into Earth’s atmosphere, with larger fireballs generating more brightness.

“It’s moving so fast, it’s almost like shooting a bullet into a pool of water,” Hankey said of the bright meteors. “It looks like it’s on fire, so that’s where the word comes from.”

Fireballs must be around magnitude -6 or brighter to be viewed in daylight, as the Wednesday meteor was. Hankey estimated the object was also fairly large due to its visibility in mid-day hours alongside the sun and said objects like Wednesday’s are only sighted three to four times each year.

“For a meteor to be seen like this one during the day means that it was a significant hunk of rock or ice,” he said. “They’re more rare.”

He said the fireball was probably several meters in size before it exploded and scattered its fragments into the ocean.

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“You’re talking like a car size, definitely over a meter,” he said.

Thousands of the very bright meteors fall to Earth daily, the society said. Most go unnoticed, however, because of their locations over an ocean or uninhabited area, being “masked by daylight,” or falling during night hours while people sleep.

“It’s a great opportunity if you got to see it; it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Hankey said of the Wednesday fireball.

Hankey had good news for those who might have missed it, though. While a bright daytime fireball might not be seen over New England for years, he suggested interested star-gazers check out the Orionid meteor shower, which peaks Friday night and also over the weekend. The best time to catch a glimpse of meteors is in the early morning hours Saturday and Sunday, and weather conditions are expected to be clear for viewers’ pleasure.


Ben Thompson can be reached at ben.thompson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Globe_Thompson.