On Game of Thrones, the people of both Westeros and Essos thought the appearance of a red comet was an omen. But there was little agreement on what exactly that “bleeding star” meant. Was it heralding a new king or the birth of dragons? Or was it a dire sign of blood and death to come? In a world undergoing violent and dramatic changes, it’s easy to understand why there were so many interpretations. So good luck figuring out what the hell a fiery blue meteor that just crashed in the US means for 2020!
But whether it means something good or bad, or nothing at all, everyone can at least agree on one thing. It looked awesome.
The Associated Press reported (in a story we first heard about at Boing Boing) that around 6:24 am ET on Wednesday, September 30, a meteor was spotted flashing over the skies of Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. It was bright enough that people from 15 different states (plus Canada) reported seeing it.
The American Meteor Society says it got more than 700 reports about the meteor. That included from people in Washington DC, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ontario.
Investigators are still looking into the event. The AMS says though that early reports indicate the fireball was traveling from South East to North West, it apparently ended its visible flight somewhere over North Benton, Ohio. It also appears to have been a random event and not part of a meteor shower.
Seeing a fireball like this is also rare, even if meteors are more common than you might think. From AMS:
“Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight. Those that occur at night also stand little chance of being detected due to the relatively low numbers of persons out to notice them.”
American Meteor Shower
In 2020 it might be more surprising we’re not seeing fireballs crash into the planet every few hours.
But what could our blue meteor portend for the rest of the year? Considering all the news that followed on October 1, we might not want to know.
Featured Image: American Meteor Shower