A brilliant fireball lights up the skies over Lake Erie on the evening of October 21, 2024, at around 7 p.m. EDT (23:00 UTC).
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake in North America and is located near the US-Canada border.
The American Meteor Society (AMS) has received over 500 reports about this fireball (Event #2024-6206).
The fireball has been witnessed from Michigan in the north to Virginia in the south and from Indiana in the west to New York in the east.
The initial computer-generated trajectory shows that this fireball entered the atmosphere over Lake Erie and traveled from west to east.
Tiny space rocks are called meteoroids. When these space rocks enter the earth’s atmosphere and burn up, they are called meteors. When these pieces of meteors do not completely burn up during their atmospheric entry and hit the ground, they are called meteorites.
When a meteor is exceedingly bright (brighter than magnitude -4.0), it is called a fireball.
As the fireball burned over Lake Erie, the probability of finding any meteorites on land is very low.
It is also unknown whether the fireball was part of any known meteor shower or a sporadic meteor.
However, the blueish-green color of this fireball indicates that the space rock is rich in magnesium. Please remember that the color of a meteor depends on its chemical composition.
| Chemical | Color of meteor |
|---|---|
| Sodium | Orange-yellow |
| Iron | Yellow |
| Magnesium | Blue-green |
| Calcium | Violet |
| Atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen | Red |
Videos of the October 21 fireball
The American Meteor Society has already received 10 videos of the October 21 fireball. Find more on this webpage.
Report a Fireball on the official webpage of the American Meteor Society if you witnessed this fireball event or any other event. It’s fun and simple.
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