American Meteor Society
More than 240 reports
The AMS has received nearly 350 reports so far about of a fireball event over seen over Montréal, CA on September 21st, 2016 around 9:35pm EDT (Sept 22nd, 1:35 UT). The fireball was seen primarily from Québec but witnesses from Ontario, New Brunswick, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire also reported the event.
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If you want to learn more about Fireballs: read our Fireball FAQ.
Trajectory
Below is the map of the witnesses location with the first estimated trajectory. The preliminary estimated trajectory plotted from the witness reports shows the meteor was traveling from the east to the west and ended its flight south of Montréal, CA.
I confirm this observation.
At that time yesterday evemning, there was a sudden bright illumination in the sky which lasted for about 2 seconds and it was moving fast.
No direct observation, but we saw the light coming from above, and the fact that it was moving fast.
I saw this Meteor last night. I was travelling on I-93 North between exits 23 & 24. I saw it burn out right in front of us.
Big ball and fire with blue white tail , easy 3 seconds, new hampton nh, looking north, left to right trajectory, beautiful
On that evening I was looking north on a very clear night with virtually no ambient light. We were just north of St. Johnsbury, Vermont.The object came from SE to NW and lasted about 3-4 seconds. There were two quite distinct colours in the head, green on the west and red on the east. There was a long white tail. It flared out in the direction of Montreal. My initial thought was space debris because of the colours (copper and iron???).
About 9:45 Pm on Sept 21st. there was a huge fire ball that went across the interstate between Colchester, and Milton Vermont. It was moving extremely fast with a streak of fire behind it. It looked like in the distance after going over the interstate that is burnt out like a firework would do.
I was traveling north on i93 in NH between Concord and Manchester when I saw it last night. It was so bright and flamed out like fireworks that I totally dismissed the possibility of a meteor. Very cool sight
At about 9:40 PM on September 21 we were traveling down a hill in North Greenbush, NY on NY State route 43, descending toward NYS route 4. My husband noticed it first and called my attention to it. When I looked out the window it (a very bright object with a lesser light trailing behind) seemed to be traveling from somewhere over my right shoulder continuing forward and (in the distance) off to the left. Then it disappeared, seemingly dropped down beyond the horizon. It might have lasted about half a minute. I’m not sure.
I saw it in florence vt on my way to work. It was n immense and burned out quickly. Another friend saw it in middlebury vermont. Gorgeous
September 22nd at approximately 9:41 pm there was a neon green disc HOVERING over my house and it disappeared after 3 seconds it was NOT a meteor!
Mercredi, le 20 septembre vers 9h50, nous (mon mari et moi) avons été surpris par une intense lumière verte puis blanche à la hauteur de la cime des arbres de la grosseur d’un phare d’automobile direction nord-ouest vers sud-est. Le ciel en fut éclairé. Aucun bruit n’accompagnait la lumière. La lumière a semblé disparaître derrière les arbres. Nous habitons à St-Hippolyte, tout près de St-Jérôme. Cela a duré une fraction de seconde. Notre réaction à tous les deux a été de dire Waouh! C’était quoi ça!? tant le phénomène était inhabituel.
Wednesday, September 20 at 9:50, we (my husband and I) were surprised by an intense green and white light at the height of the trees about the size of an automobile headlight northwest direction towards south East. The sky was illuminated. No sound accompanied the light. The light seemed to disappear behind the trees. We live in St-Hippolyte, close to St-Jérôme. That lasted a split second. Our reaction to both was to say Wow! What was that!? As the phenomenon was unusual.
I saw this as well in Burlington, VT. At first I didn’t think because the altitude appeared so low. I’ve seen many shooting stars but none appeared this close. Direction of travel appeared more northwest than the map above.
Seen from NH Route 118, Dorchester NH.
Amazing Color. Whitish blue center, I think, edges darker or lighter? Tail different still with sort of fireworks style sparkle although I don’t remember it exactly as I’m elderly. What amazed me was it wasn’t just one color, but many different colors and textures. Very Bright. I never saw anything like it. Excellent show. Although I was headed directly north I’m not sure how much of the show I actually saw as what I did see didn’t occupy that much of the sky, that is the path was fairly short that I witnessed. Only a couple of seconds at most. It was fairly large through in thickness, way thicker and heavier in line than the average meteor streak you see. It was a shape, rather than a line. I wonder how big it was. It seemed to end before it hit the ground.
Claude and All,
These objects are smaller than you think. An object the size of a softball can create a fireball as bright as the full moon for a short instant. This object was probably a bit larger than that, perhaps the size of a beach ball?
It’s hard for me to estimate the brightness, it did happen so fast and I wasn’t ready for it. In terms of square inch for square inch it was certainly much brighter than the moon, but the surface area I judge smaller than the moon. Thus I’m not sure in totality, it would light up the ground as much as a full moon would. I also had headlights to deal with. I might be glorifying it in my mind too.
It is a surprise that such a small object would be so bright, I was going to guess as big as a house! But from what you say, it might not have been as big as a beach ball. I was at an altitude of about 1200 feet and stars around here are generally very bright; there is minimal light pollution for this day and age here. The direction and length shown on the map coincide well with what I saw, it was slightly to the west of the path to the north star from my observation point.
My husband and I were in our hot tub stargazing when we saw this amazing meteor. We are in Penn Yan NY. It appeared in the eastern sky traveling northward. It’s tail appeared to be green.
I saw what I believe is a fireball last night 23/09/16 in the English skies. It was a green streak that burst and disappeared lasting for a few seconds. It happened very first so I couldn’t take in too many details. Interesting how I have seen it even though I am very far away from the US and Canada!
Jess,
You witnessed a different fireball.
Robert Lunsford
Most impressive fireball I’ve seen. As someone else said it looked more north west to me. Actual fireball in front with a long tail, I would say it lasted a good 5-7 seconds, appeared to wobble a little
Around this date, between 3-4am, i witnessed something that sounds similar to this, over southern new jersey.
I saw a bright meteor travelling east to west as I was approaching Barry’s Bay about 180 km west of Ottawa in Ontario sometime after 9 on September 21, 2016. I was travelling westward, and it passed overhead possibly a bit south of the highway I was on. I met friends in Huntsville later that night (about 160 km further west) and they also reported seeing the same. It was brighter, and appeared slower and lower than I have seen a meteor before. It felt like I saw it for a few seconds, but it could have been as quick as 1 second.
Driving east on 401 near exit 778, just west of Cornwall., I can confirm the time but it seemed to be travelling from south to north and ending almost over the car.
Yes, my friend and I saw this fireball the evening of September 21st around 9:30-10:00 PM at 4the Lake, Adirondacks, NY. It appeared so quickly right before our eyes. At first we thought it was fireworks but realized it was something special. It lasted at least 10 seconds and was bright green, white and some red at its center with a long tail. It almost seemed as if we could touch it.
I’ve read through what everyone describes and last night while driving home at 23:51 I witnessed something bright and fast move over table mountain and it happened so quickly. To fast for a shootING star and it was quite large and seemed to be moving at quite some speed