Meteor shoots over the east coast, numerous sightings in New Jersey
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Did you see the shooting star that lit up the sky on Tuesday night?
If so, what you actually saw was a golf ball size clump of dust that's been out in space for billions of years.
In video obtained by Action News, Twitter user Steve Chazin's dash camera captured what appears to be the meteor streaking across the sky late Tuesday night.
Chazin told Action News this was taken while along Route 50 in Fairfax, Virginia.
Around the same time, Action News received similar reports of possible meteor sightings in New Jersey.
Sean Finnegan caught it on his doorbell cam in Egg Harbor Township.
"It was amazing! This was brighter than the moon," he said.
"What we saw in the video is what we call a sporadic fireball," said Derrick Pitts, the lead astronomer at the Franklin Institute.
Pitts explains meteors are dust particles from comets that enter the atmosphere.
"This is just a hunk of space rock that comes barreling into the earth's atmosphere. As it comes in and heats up, it glows. We can see a lovely streak, then it disappears, typically," Pitts said.
The meteor that we saw on Tuesday night likely burst into small pieces, without creating a crater on earth. But, it was much larger than what we're used to seeing, which measure the size of a small pebble. This meteor was likely the size of a golfball.
If you've missed the meteor, don't worry! There are meteor showers in our night sky from now through April 26th.
The best night to watch for shooting stars will be this coming Monday into early Tuesday.
