LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. -- A rare sight, captured on camera, by a York County fishermen early Monday morning: a fireball soaring across the sky over a number of states, including Pennsylvania.
It was pure luck, according to Matt Lessner. He was out fishing on the Susquehanna River with his friend, and he just-so-happened to have his GoPro on. You can hear the surprise in his voice as a meteor soars high above his boat.
"I saw a bright flash, and luckily, my GoPro was running, and I caught it on video," said Lessner.
Lessner, a York County fisherman, was on a boat on the Susquehanna Flats in Maryland with his buddy, Lee Jolly, when Lessner caught more than just another catfish: a fireball soaring high above the sky around 1 a.m. in the morning.
"We were all like, 'what was that?!' and I'm like, 'I'm pretty sure that was a meteor because it came out of nowhere and came down,'" said Lessner.
Lessner is right, according to 'Cosmic Mike' Smith, the Senior Scidome Educator at the North Museum of Nature and Science in Lancaster.
"According to the reports, that appears to be a very bright meteor which is also known as a fireball," said Smith.
More than 100 sightings of the fireball in just Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to the American Meteor Society, and that's not all.
"There's probably at least 11 states with reports of seeing the fireball," said Smith.
Smith says it's a rare occurrence to see a meteor, let alone capture it on camera, and Lessner says it was sheer luck that his camera was on during that brief extraordinary moment.
"It was like one second. It was pretty quick," he said.
As for whether or not that meteor landed, Smith says likely.
"Actually, there was observations of it fragmenting so just because of the fact that it was a bright fireball, and it produced some sound, according to some observers, there's a better chance of it being on the ground," he explained.
Officials say the meteor may have landed in Lancaster county. Reports show it could have touched ground anywhere from Peach Bottom to Willow Street, although they do say it would be hard to distinguish from another rock. Still, a pretty phenomenal capture and moment for Central Pennsylvania!