New England Fireball Captured on Police Dashcam and Portsmouth Harbor Webcam

Posted on May 17, 2016

A large fireball was seen over the Northeastern U.S. early this morning. A police officer picked up the fireball on his dashcam. The fireball was primarily seen but Maine residents but reports also came in from several others states as well as Canada.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) has a report on the fireball with three videos, including the dashcam recording below. The fireball was also captured by the Portsmouth Harbor Webcam. A zoom in on the fireball from the webcam can be seen here.

AMS operations manager Mike Hankey told CNN that fireballs are regular events but seeing one like this is a rare occurrence. Hankey says, "These are totally harmless events and they happen every day on the planet. But for an individual to see something like this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing -- just the odds of you being the in the right place at the right time."

Here is the police dashcam footage:

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