A dazzling fireball streaked through the skies above the Midwest on June 14, crashing through Earth’s atmosphere at a staggering 56,000 mph (90,123 km.h per hour) before burning up.
The fireball first appeared over Tupelo, Mississippi at 11:26 p.m. EDT on June 14 (0326 GMT on June 15). It then raced roughly 300 miles across the sky before disappearing from view over the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri according to NASA.
More than 500 witnesses reported the event to the American Meteor Society,— some of whom uploaded footage of the fiery event. NASA’s all-sky camera network also captured the fireball from three locations.
NASA estimates the object measured only about 3 inches (8 centimeters) across and weighed roughly 1 lb (453 grams), yet it flared to 16 times the brightness of Venus as it tore through our planet’s atmosphere.
The meteor — which is thought to be a small chunk of a much larger asteroid — was probably too small and traveled too fast to survive atmospheric entry and instead disintegrated entirely, leaving no parts of it to fall to the ground in the form of meteorites.
Want to see dramatic fireballs and shooting stars for yourself? Well you may not have long to wait! The Perseid meteor shower is active from mid-July and peaks overnight on Aug. 12-13— around the same time as a spectacular total solar eclipse sweeps across Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain.
Check out our shooting star explainer article to discover everything you need to know about the spectacular natural phenomenon, along with our roundup of every major meteor shower in 2026, which will ensure that you never miss a display.
Editor’s Note: If you would like to share your fireball footage and imagery with Space.com’s readers, then please send your photo/video accompanied by your comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
