Fireball From the Taurids Ignites the Skies Above Massachusetts

Fireball From the Taurids Ignites the Skies Above Massachusetts
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The Taurids meteor shower continues its dominance on the night sky, and perhaps every stargazer knows that it’s just a matter of time until fireballs will also occur. By definition, fireballs are still meteors, only that they reach a certain brightness, one much more imposing than usual.

The ‘NASA Meteor Watch’ Facebook account brings the news of a Taurid fireball zooming across the skies above the American state of Massachusetts. It happened Tuesday night at an hour when it still wasn’t late enough to interfere with the bedtime of most people: around 7:30 PM.

Over 100 people saw the celestial event

More than 100 residents of Massachusetts witnessed the cosmic event. Were they lucky or not? That’s a good question! It all depends on how each person reacts. Spotting a fireball in the night sky can very well represent a dream come true for many people, while it can terrify others. After all, a meteor could even destroy a city if it’s big enough.

The ‘NASA Meteor Watch’ Facebook account wrote:

Taurid fireball over Massachusetts last night (November 8 ) just past 7:30 PM local
A Taurid fireball was reported by well over a hundred eyewitnesses in the northeastern states at 7:37 PM Eastern Standard Time last night. An analysis of those accounts has been performed with constraints provided by 3 EarthCams and a train station camera located in the area. The analysis shows that the first sighting of the meteor occurred 58 miles above Salem, Massachusetts, moving west at 75,000 miles per hour. It survived for about 2.5 seconds, traveling some 51 miles before disintegrating at an altitude of 41 miles above Leominster.
We thank the American Meteor Society for providing the eyewitness reports.

Just two days ago, we shared the news of a house that burnt to the ground, and a fireball from the Taurid meteor shower is believed to be the culprit. 


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Even since he was a child, Cristian was staring curiously at the stars, wondering about the Universe and our place in it. Today he's seeing his dream come true by writing about the latest news in astronomy. Cristian is also glad to be covering health and other science topics, having significant experience in writing about such fields.

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