American Meteor Society
More than 500 reports from California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico
The AMS has received 525 reports so far (and counting…) about of a fireball event over seen over San Diego, CA on Monday, April 10th 2017 around 9:00pm PDT (April 11th – 04:00 UT.). The fireball was seen primarily from the San Diego area but witnesses from Los Angeles, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico also reported the event.
Most of the witnesses describe the fireball as “green” and “very bright”. Only 7 witnesses so far heard either a concurrent or a delayed sound.
If you witnessed this event and/or if you have a video or a photo of this event, please fill an Official Fireball Report.
If you want to learn more about Fireballs: read our Fireball FAQ.
Estimated Trajectory
The map below shows 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 West and ended its visible flight on the Pacific Ocean somewhere over the San Diego Trough.
Below is the 3D trajectory of the event (available in KML format from the AMS Event#1298-2017 Page):
Two witnesses shared a video of the event while filling an Official Fireball Report:
AMS Member Marc L. uploaded another nice video of the event:
Below is a video of the event shared by Youtube user Dave Kodama
Twitter user Faye Heddings is maybe the first human videobombed by a fireball:
And here is dashcam video shared by S. Diego on Youtube:
If you want to learn more about Fireballs: read our Fireball FAQ.
We were lucky enough to have watched as this bright yellow and green flash lit up the sky last night. A beautiful site in Indian Wells California! Awesome!
We saw it from Flagstaff, Az on I-40 coming W.
Happend on Charles Pollard Olivier’s birthday.
I’m an Uber driver. I caught the whole thing on my HD dashcam – https://youtu.be/VtsXPMQ-niI
Saw this on the way from Mexico. Had crossed the border a little earlier and witnessed it in the drive through the desert before San Diego. It lit up the whole area! I felt like this was the end! Luckily we survived and got to witness such a beautiful site.
I didnt see the meteor but light in the store where i work changed color for a second. It did the same thing on that tuesday night and no one metioned it
HI,
I’m interested in anyone who witnessed the Meteor and would like to search for it. I believe it landed fragments in the ocean off San Diego. If anything is found. let me know. I identify meteorites and own several and have info on them. Like to search for them also. Contact me at the above.
Thanks
Jeff
Actually, from our prospective the videos that were posted only captured the last portion of the fire balls trajectory. We watched it for at least 10 seconds. At first I thought it was a comet as it went skipping across the outer layers of our atmosphere then suddenly in plunged downward and broke into at least three fragments before disappearing.
Glad I’m not the only one who saw it for at least 10 seconds (while driving). It was one of the longest meteorites I’ve seen before (seemed to keep going until it finally exploded into bright balls of light).
I got to witness this from my balcony in La Jolla, CA…I was speechless, by the time I could speak to let my husband know, it was already out of sight! What a sight!