Yesterday, as my family was driving down the freeway, I saw a bright light in the sky.  Initially, I thought it was a helicopter with its lights on, but it was moving too fast and disappeared midair.

Since watching meteor showers and trying to “catch” a meteor with my camera is a hobby of mine, I suspected I had seen a stray fireball, so I took note of the time and our location (and wished we had a dashcam that would have caught the event).

When I got home, I checked the American Meteor Society web site, and someone else in the area had reported seeing a fireball at the same time!  So I contributed to science and added my observation.

I also checked my favorite satellite visibility web site, and the time and trajectory did not match up with any visible satellites or Iridium flares (and I think it was moving too fast to be either).

That event is now AMS event 1149 with three observers to date.

http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball_event/2013/1149

Did anyone else in the Houston area see it?  Do you have any stories of other fireballs you have seen?

The most amazing one I’ve ever see was over Florida almost 20 years ago.  Amazingly bright and I was convinced that one landed somewhere.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to capture or report that data at the time, but I’ve always wondered what happened to it.