Mt. Washington Observatory catches footage of passing meteor

The Mount Washington Observatory released a video Friday showing a stunningly bright meteor shooting across the New England night sky.

The meteor, which is a streak of light caused by a meteoroid passing through Earth’s atmosphere, appeared in front of the observatory at approximately 3:02 a.m. Friday. The video footage was captured by the observatory’s tower camera and shared with the public.

Astronomers described the image as “what appears to be a fireball, or an especially bright meteor, streaked across the night sky as it moved from south to north.”

The video was shared on the Mount Washington Observatory’s Facebook and X pages. 

Skygazers chimed in on social media, with several people claiming to have seen the shooting star with their own eyes, in real-time.

“Saw this meteor last night … this video does it absolutely no justice. It was so bright and lasted for what felt like forever. Witnessed in Manchester [New Hampshire] facing east,” said one person on X, to which another person replied, “I saw it too. Totally agree.