Mysterious Fireball Reported Along Atlantic Coast

Residents along the mid-Atlantic coast spotted a huge fireball last night—likely a meteor—followed by an explosion and a loud noise minutes later, the Virginian-Pilot reports. “This brilliant green meteor was probably two or three times brighter than the moon,” says one amateur astronomer who spotted the flash. “Then it turned orange with a white core and disappeared.”

A loud, low frequency noise shook houses in Norfolk and Virginia Beach soon thereafter. Most reports put the blast and the noise at 9:50pm, but one man said he spotted a flash of light at 2:30am. The explosions indicate the meteor entered deep into the atmosphere, says an astronomy expert, making it likely that pieces fell to Earth. (More astronomy stories.)