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Western North Carolinians, Some from High Country, Report Meteor/Fireball Sightings Wednesday Night

Photo taken from Lawndale, N.C. – Credit: Lawndale Sandia Sentinel All Sky, Stuart McDaniel

By Jesse Wood

Aug. 30, 2012. Last night, a few dozen people, mostly folks from Western North Carolina and the Piedmont, reported a meteor/fireball zooming across Western North Carolina.

Latest Worldwide Meteor, a website that tracks meteor and fireball sightings only recorded eight reports on Tuesday – compared to nearly 40 on Wednesday night.

Folks from Boone, Weaverville, Asheville, Hickory and Morganton all saw this astronomical event at just before 10 p.m.

The person from Boone, who only gave the name Sam, posted that he saw something shoot across the sky, traveling southwest, at about 9:45 p.m. In a scant description, he posted that he saw “white with blue surrounding it with a blue tail.”

He didn’t see any fragments, and noted that the brightness of the meteor/fireball was the same as the moon.

“Huge in size, kind of low, very bright,” Sam posted.

Others from around the region reported seeing other hues such as green, red, yellow and orange – including one person who saw a rainbow of colors. 

A meteorologist with the National Weather Service out of Blacksburg, Va., said that there were no reports of anything touching ground last night. 

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