Fireball Streaks Across the Jersey Sky, Caught on Video

SEA GIRT — What streaked across the sky over New Jersey, and much of the Northeast, on Wednesday?

The American Meteor Society received 197 reports, from Maine to Maryland, of a fireball traveling from northeast to southwest around 2:40 p.m.

Video of the fireball in Sea Girt, facing east towards the ocean, shows the white object with a slight tail getting brighter before disappearing.

"It was a very clear day, still bright sun. We were very surprised to see it was out over the ocean," wrote Mark C. on the AMS site after he saw it in Ship Bottom.

"Just got bright(er) and bright(er) and slightly larger and poof. Gone," William P. in Hamilton (Mercer) wrote.

"Flash of light stopped, then reappeared, lit up then was gone," Jennifer M. in Monroe (Middlesex) observed.

The AMS defines a fireball as a "very bright meteor" which appears to be as bright as Venus. It has to be even brighter to be visible during the day. Fireballs usually occur over oceans and uninhabited areas.