At 10:05 PM last evening (2019 November 13 3:05 UTC), members of the public along the East Coast from Virginia to Massachusetts reported seeing a bright fireball. An analysis of these accounts combined with data from 3 cameras in the region (NASA all sky meteor camera at Allegheny Observatory in Pennsylvania, a long exposure camera at Bluebirds Knoll Observatory in Bethany, Connecticut and an EarthCam at Ft. McHenry in Maryland) indicates that this meteor was a member of the currently active Taurid meteor shower, as the radiant was computed to be in the constellation of Taurus, and the speed is a good match to that of the Taurids (58,000 miles per hour). The fireball's trajectory was completely over the Atlantic, starting at an altitude of 66 miles and ending off to the northwest at 38 miles above a point 29 miles due east of the New Jersey town of Asbury Park. The piece of Comet Encke producing the fireball was about 4 inches in diameter and weighed about 2 pounds. It completely ablated, so no meteorites were produced by this event.
Event ID | 20191113-030445 |
Date (UTC) | Nov. 13, 2019 |
Time (UTC) | 03:04:45 |
AMS Event | 5571-2019 |
NASA Camera Start Lat/Lon | +40.076, -73.149 |
NASA Camera End Lat/Lon | +40.182, -73.472 |
NASA Camera Altitude | 106.9 km → 61.4 km ( 66.4 miles→ 38.1 miles) |
NASA Camera Speed | 25.8 km/s (57,600 mph) |
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon | +40.255, -73.324 |
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon | +40.358, -73.410 |
Chicken Little Altitude | 97.6 km → 75.3 km ( 60.7 miles→ 46.8 miles) |
Chicken Little Speed | 29.9 km/s (66,900 mph) |