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Video: Brilliant 'fireball' spectacularly burns up over skies of Pennsylvania

Nasa confirmed that the fireball was a '500-pound space rock' that burnt up as it entered earth's atmosphere

Jack Simpson
Wednesday 18 February 2015 07:57 EST
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The fireball was seen early on Tuesday morning
The fireball was seen early on Tuesday morning (Ruptly)

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A massive fireball was captured by several Nasa cameras as it travelled over the skies of Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Nasa’s Meteoroid Environments Office confirmed that the fireball was a “500-pound space rock” that burnt up as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere above Western Pennsylvania.

Nasa's Bill Cooke said: “This celestial visitor had an orbit that took it out to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It came a mighty long way to a fiery end in the predawn Pennsylvania sky.

“The fireball moved almost due east at a speed of 45,000 mph. It flared brighter than the Full Moon before the cameras lost track of it at altitude of 13 miles above Kittanning.”

He also said that fragments of the rock could have fallen to Earth and be scattered across Pennsylvania.

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