Unforgettable Spectacle: Meteor Illuminates Night Sky Over Tri-Cities
Tri-Cities, TN/VA- An extraordinary celestial event thrilled residents across the Tri-Cities in the early hours of Friday as a bright meteor streaked across the night sky, creating flashes and a resonating boom that startled viewers.
Witness Accounts
Various local residents reached out with accounts and videos capturing this impressive spectacle.
“It started getting brighter and brighter and brighter,” shared local resident Andy Tester, who recounted the experience of witnessing the meteor upfront, “I honestly could not process what was happening.”
Another local, Glen Sparks, captured the astonishment on his dash camera. “This thing just appeared in the sky,” Sparks recounted, “A bright green ball of fire streaking across the sky.”
Meteor Phenomenon
According to a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at East Tennessee State University, Gary Henson, this meteor – a bright green ball of fire – was not an ordinary sighting. “Most meteors don’t appear as bright. That’s why the more common term is falling stars,” said Henson. “Because you look at the night sky and there may be 6,000 stars you can see with your eye on average. They don’t stand out as unique.” However, this particular meteor was an exception as it brilliantly lit up the night sky.
Experience by Onlookers
The extraordinary sight of flashes ignited by the meteor wasn’t the only breathtaking element of this phenomenon.
“There were two bright explosions,” said Sparks. “It was brighter than the sun it seemed like.” Tester, who was on his friend’s porch when the meteor passed, didn’t get a video but his experience was second to none.
“I saw this humongous ball of light flying through the sky,” Tester recollected. “About two minutes later, this humongous rumble [started]. I mean, it felt like it was in the depths of the earth rumbling.”
Tales of the Meteor
Another local, Jason Miller, heard about the meteor later, quickly checking his camera to see if he had caught the spectacle. Being successful in capturing the magnificent meteor on camera, he shared his elation, “I saw it on Facebook and saw a lot of people posting security camera footage. So I started looking at ours, and I got a really good shot of it reflecting the pool.”
Unexpected Visitors from Space
Meteors are random and there’s really no way to predict when one will pass over. What occurs is that these meteors, moving at high speeds, enter the Earth’s atmosphere and then burn up. This creates the bright light phenomenon that can be seen from the ground. If apparent brightness is an indicator of size, the meteor that flew over Tri-Cities was an unusually large one, which made this event all the more spectacular and memorable for the residents.
