WASHINGTON (AP/WJZ) — Social media sites are buzzing with reports of a flash of light streaking across the sky along the East Coast.
Several viewers called into WJZ reporting a meteor in White Marsh and as far west as Frederick.
Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program in Pasadena, Calif., said he’s aware of the reports and that they appear to be consistent with a meteor shower.
Yeomans told The Associated Press that he didn’t know the cause of the Friday night sightings. He said meteor showers are not that rare, but added “it’s unusual to have so many people see it.”
Karen Koredek told WJZ she was driving down the highway when she noticed the light. She said it was blue and pink and looked the way a paint brush would if it was gliding across a canvas.
Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society told USA Today “it basically looked like a super bright shooting star.”
Yeomans said meteor showers don’t typically reach the ground. He said they’re generally made up of chunks of asteroids that enter the earth’s atmosphere, and if small enough, “burn up after putting on a good show.”
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
