Meteor seen across sky Tuesday was likely size of golf ball, experts say

BOSTON – When a flash of light lit up the evening sky Tuesday, social media went crazy with speculation. The streak was likely caused by a meteor, and experts tell Boston 25 News it was seen from New Jersey to Canada.

The meteor, which was likely the size of a golf ball, was traveling between 10 and 20 miles per second when it crossed the sky just before 6 p.m.

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“Literally I just looked out the window and I see a streak of orange traveling west to northeast and right time right place right person.  I have an affection for these things,” Barbara Barrett, director of the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum, said.

A meteor is caused by a piece of rock or metal that breaks off an asteroid and burns up as it enters Earth’s atmosphere.

Kelly Beatty is a trained astronomer and senior editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine. He showed Boston 25 News reporter Ted Daniel a map with all 230 sightings reported to the American Meteor Society.

“If you look carefully at the videos, the meteor flared got really bright and just kind of faded out that's a tale tell sign there was nothing left,” he said.

Beatty said the celestial events like this are more common than you might expect, but because of the time of night when this happened it was seen by so many people.

Cox Media Group