Well over two hundred eyewitnesses in the states of California, Arizona and Nevada have filed reports on the American Meteor Society website of a fireball seen on Sunday, March 22, at 8:19 PM Pacific Daylight Time (2026 March 23, 03:19 UTC). These accounts and data from several publicly accessible cameras have been combined to compute a trajectory for this meteor, which was first spotted at an altitude of 49 miles above the California town of Chowchilla. It moved slightly east of south at 35,000 miles per hour, traveling 58 miles through the upper atmosphere before disintegrating 29 miles above Calflax. This fireball does not appear to be related to recent bright meteors that have attracted widespread public attention, having a different radiant and speed.
We thank the American Meteor Society for providing the eyewitness accounts.
| Event ID | 20260323-031821 |
| Date (UTC) | March 23, 2026 |
| Time (UTC) | 03:18:21 |
| AMS Event | 2016-2026 |
| Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon | +37.149, -120.314 |
| Chicken Little End Lat/Lon | +36.383, -120.109 |
| Chicken Little Altitude | 78.6 km → 46.4 km ( 48.8 miles→ 28.8 miles) |
| Chicken Little Speed | 15.5 km/s (34,600 mph) |