Are you worried about meteors impacting Earth?
According to numerous media reports, including one from The Associated Press, a giant fireball lit up the SoCal sky on Wednesday night. Although reports were concentrated in the Santa Barbara to San Diego area, sightings were also made in Arizona, Nevada and Utah.
“We’ve gotten numerous phone calls of people reporting seeing something bright—consistent with a meteor shower—over the eastern desert communities of San Diego,” said Lt.Michael Munsey of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.
Not only did the giant fireball light up the SoCal sky, it also lit up social media.
Here are some of the reactions via Twitter, as reported by USA Today.
Ireeene_xo tweeted: “Not sure if I saw a meteor or a shooting star but I made a wish just in case.”
Ayem3pineda said: “idk if I saw a meteor or if im just high?”
ToMyAssistant noted: “Either I just saw a meteor over DTLA, or my facebook friend and I are enjoying a shared psychosis.”
“I saw it in Palm Desert, CA at 7:50. Happened so fast I couldn’t really tell what it was at first. It seemed so close I braked in my car thinking I might hit it! Amazing sight!” one person wrote in the comments section of a American Meteor Society article covering the event.
This wasn’t the first fireball this year to light up social media, according to AMS. The group notes that an October 30 fireball was seen in the Portland, Oregon area and throughout the Pacific Northwest. The group adds that the most notable characteristics of this fireball were its “long path in the sky” and “duration of [the] event.”
Interestingly, researchers recently discovered that the hit rate of asteroids is between two and 10 times higher than was previously thought.
Are you worried about meteors impacting Earth? Sound off in the comments section.
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