Giant Fireball Seen in the Sky Over Most of North Georgia

What is believed to have been a giant meteor streaked across the sky late Thursday night, to the amazement of thousands of spectators from Alabama to Wisconsin.

According to the American Meteor Society, a fireball is another term for a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude -4, which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus as seen in the morning or evening sky. A bolide is a special type of fireball which explodes in a bright terminal flash at its end, often with visible fragmentation.

Those reporting last night’s event believe they saw a fireball.

WLHR News morning drive host, Porkchop said he was outside talking to a neighbor Thursday night about 10:30p when the meteor came streaking by.

“As we were talking, my neighbor just looked up and pointed,” he said. “When I looked up I saw it go by, too. It was a giant fireball and it wasn’t going that fast.  We just watched it go by and our first thought was that someone was shooting off fireworks.”

Franklin County Commissioner Clint Harper also reported seeing it late Thursday night.

“I just saw the largest meteor I have ever seen cross the entire sky. It was unbelievable,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Those who saw it report it traveled from southeast to northwest, made no sound,  and at one point had a bright tail.

“It was moving from SE to NW Bright white, long tail, no sound,” wrote Gary Harrison of Royston on http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com. “It was brighter than Venus… I have never seen a comet of this magnitude, whose tail was still visible after it had traversed half the night sky. It seemed orbital, as if it was not actually coming into the atmosphere, e.g., it did not fall, but made a complete pass.”

It is not known whether the meteor actually fell to earth or if it did, where.  Meteors are space rocks that fall to earth. The bright white light is typically the rock  burning up as it enters earth’s atmosphere.