Early morning meteor seen in Ohio and Pennsylvania
Early birds in the Valley may have gotten a sneak peak at a meteor Tuesday morning.
Dr. William Cooke, of the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA confirms a meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere over western Pennsylvania around 4:50 a.m.
The 2 foot, 500 pound meteor caused what appeared to be a fireball in the skies of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Dr. Cooke said the meteor was first detected 60 miles above Beaver Falls by 3 NASA meteor cameras. The fireball moved almost due east at a speed of 45,000 miles per hour.
Reports indicate the meteor flared brighter than the full moon.
The cameras lost track of the meteor 13 miles above the town of Kittanning, just over 20 miles east of Butler, Pa.
Dr. Cooke said there may be fragments (meteorites) scattered on the ground east of that location.
"There is a good chance of small fragments lying on the ground just to the east of Kittanning - at least 4 seismographs in the area recorded the pressure wave from the fireball and there are a few eyewitness reports of sonic booms around that time. These are typical indications that meteorites have landed nearby," said Dr. Cooke.
This "celestial visitor" had an orbit that took it out to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter - it came quite the distance just to make an early morning visit to Pennsylvania.
