UPDATE: (ETH) – The recent meteor seen over the Pittsburgh area on Wednesday morning was so bright that it has now received over 700 reports across 15 different states, stretching from parts of South Carolina to Chicago. Jay Reynolds, a Research Astronomer at Cleveland State University says the meteor was notable because of how bright it was.
Reynolds stressed that the fact that it flew over the skies after 6:00 a.m. with some daylight in the sky, yet the meteor still shined so brightly was a big deal. He went on to say that the meteor was seen by so many because of how high this meteor was and that most meteors glow in the sky around 60 miles high, but at this point, there’s no estimate or approximation of how high this one was.
Reynolds also believes the meteor was likely the size of something that could fit in your hand and was likely made up of magnesium or other metallic materials. For comparison’s sake, the meteor that exploded across the skies in Russia in 2013 was approximately 60-feet across, roughly the size of a school bus.
Reynolds also believes that there are indications that the meteor ‘fell’ over the area south of Youngstown, but a ‘fall’ likely means that it broke up into several smaller pieces. When Reynolds was asked about the last time a meteor of this size flew across and/or over the Pittsburg area, Reynolds said “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen something like this.”
