When a police officer went on duty the night of February 1, he would have had no idea that he was going to get a front-row seat to a cosmic fireworks display. However, just before 8pm that night, his dash came recorded a meteor about as bright as the Full Moon blaze a trail through the sky, making his imagery, perhaps, the best video of the unexpected event.
At 7:56pm, the officer, whose name has not been published, was out on routine patrol when his car was suddenly bathed in light from a giant meteor streaking through the sky. While officer NAME got the best images of the event, he was far from the only witness.
According to spaceweather.com, witness Daryn Morran of of Abeline, Texas, reported the meteor as having “lasted for close to 8 seconds” before “exploding like a firecracker.” Another witness on Coppell, Texas, reported a “double boom” as the meteor came down, too.
Bill Cook, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, is the space agency's man in charge of keeping an eye on the sky or, more specifically, what falls from it. To his credit, it is under Cooke that NASA has set up a network of all-sky cameras spanning the country to keep an eye out for meteors so that scientists can determine where they came from, how big they are, and, in a few cases, where remnants can be found.
As for this meteor, it was estimated to have been as bright as the Full Moon and as big as a car before it broke up over the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As for where it came from, Cooke and is colleagues are still at work trying to determine the meteor's origin.
Want to see the fireball for yourself? Here's a link tothe video.
As for bright meteorite falls, they in of themselves are nothing that exceedingly unusual. Just last August, there was a meteorite fall in the Cleveland area when NASA reported that a meteorite broke up Southeast of Cleveland, near the Pennsylvania border. Unfortunately, no meteorites have been found, largely thanks to the fact that the fall area is heavily rural.
Want to look for meteors in the Cleveland are? Be sure to keep an eye on the Cleveland weather forecast and, for hour-by-hour cloud predictions, the Cleveland Clear Sky Clock if you plan to head out and look at the stars this coming week. The good news: while most meteors appear during showers, the y can streak through the sky at any time, as proven by this fireball. Live somewhere else? Find a clock and see if it will be clear near you.
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