Two fireballs back to back over California

- 18 Comments - In:

Two big fireballs over California in two days

The AMS received over 110 reports so far about a fireball event that occurred over California (LA area) on June 10th, 2020 around 3:33 Universal Time (June 9th, 2020 08:33pm PDT). We also received nearly 90 reports about a similar event that occurred the next day North of San Francisco, CA. This second event occurred on June 11th 2020 around 03:51 Universal Time (June 10th, 2020 08:51pm PDT)

If you witnessed this event and/or if you have a video or a photo of this event, please
Submit an Official Fireball Report

If you want to learn more about Fireballs: read our Fireball FAQ.

AMS Event #2779-2020 – Witness location and estimated ground trajectory
AMS Event #2805-2020 – Witness location and estimated ground trajectory

Estimated 3D Trajectories

The preliminary trajectories computed based on all the reports submitted to the AMS so far shows that the tow fireballs were mainly travelling from
East to West. The first one (AMS#2779-2020

AMS Event #2779-2020 and AMS Event #2805-2020 – Estimated 3D trajectories
AMS Event #2779-2020 and AMS Event #2805-2020 – Estimated 3D trajectories

Fireball, Meteorite…?

Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight. Those that occur at night also stand little chance of being detected due to the relatively low numbers of persons out to notice them.

Additionally, the brighter the fireball, the more rare is the event. As a general thumb rule, there are only about 1/3 as many fireballs present for each successively brighter magnitude class, following an exponential decrease. Experienced observers can expect to see only about 1 fireball of magnitude -6 or better for every 200 hours of meteor observing, while a fireball of magnitude -4 can be expected about once every 20 hours or so.

AMS TERMINOLOGY

18 comments

  • DeAnna 4 years ago

    At the time of the fireball sighting in Durham, CA on June 10, there was a loud boom and shaking of the ground. I thought it was a sonic boom. People thought a meteor hit the ground and there was a discussion on social media with hundreds reporting the noice and the fireball sighting.

    Reply to DeAnna
    • Sheila 4 years ago

      I saw it and I live in North Auburn. It did not go across the sky like you see shooting stars rather it came down then disintegrated kind of like a firework… Was very bright.

      Reply to Sheila
  • Michele 4 years ago

    It literally went over my head and burned out about 10 feet away & about 20′ in the sky!!!.??????? And *Left a “smoke like” line behind it & dissapeared – or just ended…?
    ( like a airplane line of smoke in the sky))
    Paradise Ca about 845pm- 8-55pdt
    It was like a firework or a falling star going through the air. It was very
    bright, maybe even a bit of color… no noise! What did I see??

    Reply to Michele
    • Tony 4 years ago

      What color? Faint green, almost like a copper fire? Last week the institute of near earth objects set out an advisory of possible meteor slyly the chance of a strike was 1 in 125. It is possible that they maybe more

      Reply to Tony
  • Diane Lewis 4 years ago

    I witnessed a fireball on the 7th at 230 am and then again on the 10th at 3am the first one went slowly across the sky and then went down the second one slowly went straight down

    Reply to Diane
    • Piks Yawnoc 4 years ago

      The slow moving fireball, could you see the flames undulating, like a marshmallow on fire?

      Reply to Piks
      • River 4 years ago

        I had this exact experience by shaver lake California. On either the 25th or 26th the orb was slow moving, about the size of the moon half of it was on fire so it looked like a crescent red crescent moon. I noticed it was slowly dropping and when I looked close I realize that what ever it was it was on fire

        Reply to River
  • Job 4 years ago

    I was taking pictures of Venus on 4/1/20 and have photos (250 mm zoom) of an asteroid; glowing green on one side. I took several shots in sequence which show the object as it/we travel away from each other. They can be found on my Coincidence NOT page (Facebook)

    Reply to Job
  • Kevin Aldrich 4 years ago

    Observed a pretty large fireball from Buena Park CA this morning about 4:35 PST. Object moving at high velocity west to east trailing debris.

    Reply to Kevin
  • Elle Rogers 4 years ago

    I llve in Washington and last month there was a meteor that exploded a few miles north of Seattle heard from miles away. It excited many people.

    Reply to Elle
  • Tom Hutchings 4 years ago

    About a month ago we witnessed 2 flaming objects, the second one about two minutes later, following what seemed to be the same trajectory, from West to East at about 10:30pm across the Miami, Florida sky.

    Reply to Tom
  • Ronnie 4 years ago

    So these fireballs have nothing to do with the astroid that nearly hit us on the 7 of June?? Came within the moons orbit then three days ltr we get two fireballs ..kinda odd

    Reply to Ronnie
  • Vhope 4 years ago

    I was out driving late night on June 11th, 2020 to early morning June 12th, 2020. I was out in the country and saw two balls flying past the Summer Triangle asterism in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. There was also bright flashes of red lightning farther south, but no sound. It was a very interesting night to be out and about.

    Reply to Vhope
  • Larry Teters 4 years ago

    I seen one over Cincinnati this week

    Reply to Larry
  • Claudia 4 years ago

    I saw two last night (Sept 24th 2020) at 7:42pm at PCH Malibu coming from up above Pacific. One came first towards earth and made a curve and went up higher until I couldn’t see it anymore like those party balloons that fly far away, then the second one come along and does the same thing.

    Reply to Claudia
  • Lee 4 years ago

    The fireball I saw was in the Morning. Orange flaming ball. I was driving down 101 fro San Jose to Redwood City, CA from a night shift as a Security Officer. I should have pulled over and videoed it. It was spectacular.

    Reply to Lee

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *