Major Fireballs over Germany, France, Ohio and Arizona

Nov 14^th 16:48 UT – Fireball over Germany

The fireball that flew over Germany on Nov 14^th around 16:48 UT is the most reported fireball event from Europe since the AMS and the IMO launched the international version of the AMS fireball form. Translated in 31 languages, this form potentially allows the whole population of the globe to report such events.

So far, we received over 1150 reports about this event from at least 7 different versions of the form: not only from the AMS and the IMO versions but also from the forms we customized for local organizations such as the French Networks Reforme and Vigie-Ciel, the Swiss organization Fachgruppe Meteorastronomie, the German organization Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V. and even from the Italian Network PRISMA.

Below is the 3D trajectory of the event (available in KML format from the Event#4299-2017 page):

This event has been caught on several dash cams:

The first analysis conducted by former IMO president Dr. Jürgen Rendtel of the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam from the raw data shows that the event may be linked to the Taurid Meteor Shower (direction East->West and low inclination angle at the time of the sightings). Note that the East-West direction is related to the Taurids only because the fireball occurred in the local evening. Later in the night or towards the morning the direction is different, of course. This is also the case for a similar event that occured over Ohio, USA on November 15th 01:49 UT (20:49 EST) and for which we received 85 reports so far.

Within 10 hours, 4 major fireballs have been reported to us. In addition to the one over Germany and the one over Ohio, we received about 25 reports about a fireball event that occurred over the region of Bordeaux, France and one over Arizona, USA.

Nov 14^th 21:32 UT over France

The French event occurred over the city of Bordeaux (West of France) and it has been reported so far from about 42 witnesses. This event has been caught on cam by the french camera network FRIPON that is a member of the citizen science project Vigie-Ciel and by the French allsky amateur network BOAM. We should receive more details about this event anytime soon. As stated above, this event doesn’t seem like being part of the Taurid Meteor Shower. The event has been caught by 10 cameras of the French Network (Toulouse, Angers, Talence, Sabres, Carcassonne, Aurillac, Hendaye, Saint Bonnet Vert, Coulounieix-Chamiers and Mauroux).

Nov 15^th 03:28 UT over Arizona

We received 85 reports so far about this event that occurred over Arizona. We didn’t receive reports only from Arizona but also from California, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico.

This event has been caught on at least two dash cams shared via the AMS Fireball report:

As stated above, the first estimated 3D trajectory doesn’t make this fireball a good candidate for the Taurid Meteor Shower. Traveling from North-West to South-East, the visible path of the fireball ended somewhere east of Happy Jack, AZ.

Nov 15^th 01:49 UT over Ohio

We received 34 reports so far about this event that occurred over Ohio but was also reported from Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Just like the German event, this fireball was travelling East to West. The first estimation of the 3D trajectory shows that the visible path of the fireball ended somewhere over Greenfield, OH.

Unfortunately, we didn’t receive any photo or video of this event yet. If you witnessed one of this event and/or if you have a video or a photo, please
Submit an Official Fireball Report.