April 8, 2026, 12:46 p.m. ET
Another meteor was spotted streaking across the sky above parts of the eastern United States for over 100 miles, leading multiple cities and states to see the fireball on April 7.
The meteor passed over the northeastern part of the country around 2:34 p.m. ET, according to NASA, which also described it as a fireball. People in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania reported seeing the fireball to the American Meteor Society around that time.
The April 7 meteor marks the latest in a series of asteroids in the atmosphere that have been seen on Earth as they disintegrate. Here’s what we know.
An analysis of the eyewitness accounts and accessible cameras in the area places the first visibility of the meteor 48 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the shore of Mastic Beach on Long Island, New York, NASA said.
The meteor was moving southwest at 30,000 miles per hour and traveled 117 miles through the upper atmosphere before disintegrating 27 miles above the town of Galloway north of Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to NASA.
The American Meteor Society’s report shows eyewitnesses strewn throughout the East Coast, including into eastern Pennsylvania. The society received 266 reports about the fireball as well as seven videos and nine photos.
The latest meteor sighting comes after other fireballs have been spotted in other parts of the country, including on the West Coast, in the Midwest and in Texas.
March marked a month full of fireballs lighting up the sky, with sightings of different events reported in California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Ohio, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia and in Ontario, Canada.
On March 17, a “loud boom” was heard over northeast Ohio after a different, six-ton fireball was spotted in the Northeast U.S. and in Canada, according to USA TODAY’s previous reporting. Another meteor, weighing about a ton, left behind a souvenir after traveling across Texas skies on March 21, dropping debris through a local resident’s roof and ceiling.
A meteor, like a comet or asteroid, is a space rock that orbits the sun. The difference between the three lies both in how close it comes to earth and what it’s primarily made of, according to NASA.
While an asteroid is a small, rocky object often found in orbit of Mars and Jupiter and a comet is a space object made of ice and dust, meteors are a result of a space rock entering Earth’s atmosphere. Often called “shooting stars,” meteors come from meteoroids – small, often pebble-sizes pieces that break off of asteroids or comets. When a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere, it becomes a meteor. Because they enter the atmosphere at such a high speed, meteors burn up as they fall from our sky, creating the streak of light we commonly call a shooting star or fireball.
While most meteors burn up, larger pieces can sometimes survive the journey and reach Earth. Those pieces are known as meteorites.
Contributing: Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY
Kate Perez covers national trends and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kperez@usatodayco.com or on X @katecperez_.
Leave a comment