CINCINNATI – A bright and colorful light flashed in the sky over the Tri-State region Thursday evening.
Many who saw it discussed the phenomenon on social media after it shot across the sky around 9:45 p.m. on Thursday evening.
The phenomenon was recorded by numerous doorbells and dashboard cameras, including at a home on Cincinnati’s west side, and sent to WCPO by a viewer.
Fireball spotted on Cincinnati’s west side Thursday night
According to Wes Ryle, an astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory, the meteor flashed in the sky for only a few seconds but had a distinct blue and green color; witnesses also reported seeing a blue or green tail on the fireball.
The American Meteor Society received eyewitness reports from states as far away as Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Missouri, but many of the eyewitness reports also came from here in the tri-state area.
Ryle said the witness reports will help AMS scientists investigate the fireball.
“Using video footage, scientists can estimate the size of the object, but even bright fireballs are usually small, about the size of a basketball,” Ryle said. “The energy comes from the incredible speed at which these objects hit Earth, usually tens of thousands of miles per hour.”
American Meteor Society
According to the map on the American Meteor Society website, most reports came from the Greater Cincinnati area, but many reported sightings in Indianapolis, Louisville and Lexington.
Based on reports from people who claim to have seen the fireball, the AMS believes that the fiery object’s trajectory was from northeast to southwest across the sky.
American Meteor Society
Witnesses on social media described the object as everything from “the biggest, craziest shooting star I’ve ever seen” to a “giant fireball.”
One person asked on Reddit if anyone else had noticed.
“The whole crowd at the Reds stadium gasped,” the user wrote.
At that time, fans crowded into the Great American Ball Park for a concert; Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas performed at the stadium as part of Green Day’s “The Saviors Tour”.
Another person wrote on Reddit that the fireball shot through the sky as Green Day played their hit “Jesus of Suburbia” from the album “American Idiot.”
Videos posted on social media in several states showed the fireball, which had a distinct tail and flashed brightly as it flew downward before disappearing from view. Many people described seeing only a bright, green flash in the sky.
It is still unclear whether the object burned up completely or whether parts of it impacted somewhere on Earth, but the AMS currently assumes that the object’s path moved predominantly over central Kentucky.
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