The bright flash that was visible in some parts of the D.C. region Sunday night was a “major fireball event,” WTOP Space Contributor Greg Redfern said.
There were 288 reports to the American Meteor Society about the event, including fragmentation and actual sounds, Redfern said. It occurred over 10 states and D.C.
A fireball is a piece of an asteroid, or a piece of a comet, that enters Earth’s atmosphere.
Redfern said it’s clear that the fireball exploded, “because there were reports of sound and fragmentation.”
Fireballs are fairly common, according to Redfern.
“People can see the really bright ones during the day too,” he said.
Winchester VA 9/3/23 @capitalweather pic.twitter.com/EuByzLTCvU
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However, he said it’s not that common to have one explode in the D.C. area. Still, he said, there isn’t much cause for concern.
“It shows you that we have a constant cosmic rain of material coming into our atmosphere, which protects us, but if a rock or comet is big enough, it can produce larger meteorites,” Redfern said.
The sixth-largest impact crater on our planet is buried underneath the Chesapeake Bay at Cape Charles, Virginia, and is 56 miles wide, according to Redfern. He said that crater struck Earth more than 35 million years ago and caused 4,000-foot-high tsunamis, wiping out all life from Maine to Barbados.
“So, we have to be on the lookout,” he said.
