What causes fireballs in the sky? - NASA Fireballs were much in the news over the past month due to a big one that was seen in the Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana areas around local midnight on March 26 - 27, 2003 The fireball streaked across the sky and exploded in a bright flash But just what causes the fireball, and how often do they occur?
StarChild: Meteoroids - NASA The brightest of the meteors are called fireballs Sonic booms often follow the appearance of a fireball just as thunder often follows lightning At certain times of the year, more meteors than normal can be seen When the Earth passes through an orbiting stream of debris from a comet that has broken up, what's known as a meteor shower occurs
The Peekskill Fireball - NASA This photograph was taken by S Eichmiller in Altoona, Pennsylvania just after the main meteoroid body broke up into fragments The events surrounding the fall of the Peekskill meteorite on October 9, 1992 were quite unique It was observed by many people who were attending a football game, being photographed and videotaped by over a dozen people The meteorite was found crashed into the trunk
Archive of Questions Welcome to the archive of Questions Answers previously featured in the StarChild "Question of the Month" section
NASA VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Video footage of fireball streaking across the sky, breaking up into seperate smaller fireballs Animation of path of fireball over a map of the Eastern United States Fireball tracks from eastern Kentucky to New York City Final shot is of a dented red car