Bright Fireballs Seen Across North America - "Flash In The Sky" Above Mexico, "Great Ball Of Fire" Over Montreal, And "Bright Fireball" Over Northern Pennsylvania

January 26, 2013 - NORTH AMERICA - Just before midnight on Monday, a bright flash occurred, lighting up the entire sky.

"It was a bright fireball," said Thomas Cupillari, director of the Thomas G. Cupillari '60 Observatory at Keystone College. The all sky camera at the observatory caught footage of the fireball. "They graze the top of the atmosphere and can stay for quite awhile," Cupillari said. "This fireball was so bright it lit up the entire sky around it.

"Flash In The Sky" Above Mexico.

They usually burn up within one to three seconds. There was one I saw years ago that lasted for 5-20 seconds. It's very unusual for them to be so bright and last that long."The all sky camera caught 3-4 seconds of the fireball, but Cupillari predicts it actually lasted 5-6 seconds.The all sky camera is a fish eye lens that is pointed straight up into the air and can see 360 degrees around.The camera is in a network with Sandia National Laboratory through New Mexico State University. They are set up at various locations so common events that overlap can be tracked."The information from the cameras allows the laboratory to track where it came from, how high it was, and more," Cupillari explained. "It helps separate nature from manmade events."The nearest location to the observatory is 80 miles south in Ottsville, which overlaps coverage."Regular meteors can be seen on clear nights and sometimes you can see several in one night, but fireballs aren't very common," Cupillari said. "One night our camera picked up 32 meteors and none of them were fireballs."He added that when virtually all meteors are captured, the sky is black, but the one on Monday night lit up the sky.For more information on the Thomas G. Cupillari '60 Observatory visit here. - Wayne Independent.

Great Ball Of Fire Over Montreal.

Many early risers looking skyward this morning, spotted a ball of fire streaking across the sky over the Montreal region.  The CJAD and Astral newsroom received calls from places as widely seperated as St-Constant on the south shore, Two Mountains, and Laval. There were also calls from Boucherville, Saint-Laurent, and Ile-Perrot.  Claude Comeau called from Ile-Perrot to describe what he saw.  "I took it as when you see fireworks, and the spark lands towards the ground, but I didn't think anything of it."  Another caller described it as a white comet with a blue tail.  So what was it? Andrew Fazekas, spokesman for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, also known as the "night sky guy" tells CJAD news it had to be a meteor.  "While most meteors tend to be the size of a grain of sand, what we know as shooting stars, this one was probably anywhere from the size of a basketball or a living room sofa."  And while shooting stars can be spotted every 15 minutes or so on a clear night, what we saw this morning is rare.  - CJAD.

"Bright" Fireball" Over Northern Pennsylvania.

Just before midnight on Monday, a bright flash occurred, lighting up the entire sky.It was a bright fireball," said Thomas Cupillari, director of the Thomas G. Cupillari '60 Observatory at Keystone College. "They graze the top of the atmosphere and can stay for quite awhile," Cupillari said. "This fireball was so bright it lit up the entire sky around it. They usually burn up within one to three seconds. There was one I saw years ago that lasted for 5-20 seconds. It's very unusual for them to be so bright and last that long."The all sky camera is a fish eye lens that is pointed straight up into the air and can see 360 degrees around. The camera is in a network with Sandia National Laboratory through New Mexico State University. They are set up at various locations so common events that overlap can be tracked."The information from the cameras allows the laboratory to track where it came from, how high it was, and more," Cupillari explained. "It helps separate nature from manmade events."The nearest location to the observatory is 80 miles south in Ottsville, which overlaps coverage."Regular meteors can be seen on clear nights and sometimes you can see several in one night, but fireballs aren't very common," Cupillari said. "One night our camera picked up 32 meteors and none of them were fireballs."He added that when virtually all meteors are captured, the sky is black, but the one on Monday night lit up the sky. - Wayne Independent.

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