A National Weather Service meteorologist, Rick Hallman, captured an incredible fireball appearing to explode Thursday night in the Brownsville, Texas sky. Another view in the video below shows the fireball burning up before hitting the ground.
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. A bolide is a special type of fireball that explodes in a bright terminal flash at its end, often with visible fragmentation. This is what appears to happen in these captured videos.
This fireball could be from the Leonid Meteor shower, which is taking place through the end of November. However, it could also be from the Taurids meteor shower, which is also taking place. The Taurids are known for producing bright fireballs.
Are fireballs rare? Not really. Several thousand fireballs occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day. Most of these occur over oceans and uninhabited regions, and many others are masked by daylight. Those that occur at night also are less likely to be noticed because there just aren’t as many people out to notice them.
Fireballs can be seen during the day, but it’s rarer. The meteor must be brighter than about magnitude -6 to be noticed in a portion of the sky away from the sun and must be even brighter when it occurs closer to the sun.
Below a video from Croatia from February 28, 2020.
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