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NASA Confirms Daytime Fireball Over Northeast, Visible in Five States
NASA said the fireball traveled 117 miles at 30,000 mph before disintegrating, and the American Meteor Society logged more than 200 reports.
On Tuesday, April 7, 2026, a meteor fireball streaked across the Northeast, with NASA and the American Meteor Society confirming sightings from five states during broad daylight.
NASA explains that fireballs are meteors brighter than Venus, occurring when particles enter Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, with appearance rates increasing 10 to 30 percent during peak season from February through April.
Traveling at roughly 30,000 mph, the fireball covered 117 miles through the upper atmosphere after appearing 48 miles above the Atlantic Ocean, ultimately disintegrating 27 miles above Galloway Township, New Jersey.
Witnesses across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and Connecticut reported the event, with the American Meteor Society logging more than 200 reports by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
NASA noted it is not clear if any meteorite fragments reached the ground, though such objects generally pose no real hazard to ground-dwellers despite their dramatic appearance.