A meteor has lit up the East Coast of the United States, causing a veritable storm on social media sites. The meteor, despite being only visible for a few seconds as it burned up entering Earth's atmosphere, was reported to be seen from New England down to Florida, according to a report from RTV6, based in Indianapolis.
Bill Cooke, speaking on behalf of Nasa's Meteoroid Environmental Office, described what the space program believed what caused the lights up in the sky:
"looks to be a fireball that moved roughly toward the southeast, going on visual reports.Judging from the brightness, we're dealing with something as bright as the full moon...The thing is probably a yard across. We basically have (had) a boulder enter the atmosphere over the northeast."
Cooke also described last night's event as a "single meteor event", meaning that this was an isolated incident, and not part of some larger meteor shower. In addition, Cooke noted that since the meteor passed over a heavily populated area of the country during a time many are beginning their night, has caused this astronomical event to be so widely noticed.
"If you have something this bright carry over that heavily populated area, a lot of people are going to see it...It occurred around 8 tonight, there were a lot of people out, and you've got all those big cities out there."
Indeed, people took to Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube to document having seen the meteor's descent to the Earth. Much like the meteor that fell over Russia on February 15, modern technology has allowed people to document phenomenon such as this in real time, and offers scientists a chance to collect data instantly about events such as this meteor event.
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