--- title: "Videos Show Meteor So Bright It Lit the Entire Sky" description: "Fiiiiiiireball In the earliest hours of Saturday morning, residents of Indiana and several surrounding states were in for an awe-inspiring surprise: a massive meteor was seen hurtling through the atmosphere, and was so spectacularly bright that it lit the night sky. According to an American Meteor Society (AMS) report by fireball report coordinator Robert Lunsford, […]" date: "2022-07-26" modified: "2022-07-27" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/videos-meteor-bright-lit-sky" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "fireball" - "meteor" - "meteor shower" - "the digest" --- # Videos Show Meteor So Bright It Lit the Entire Sky ![Residents of Indiana and surrounding states saw a massive fireball meteor hurtle through the atmosphere in the earliest hours on Saturday morning.]() *\Image: American Meteor Society\* ## Fire in the Sky In the earliest hours of Saturday morning, residents of Indiana and several surrounding states — or at least their video-enabled doorbells — were treated to an awe-inspiring surprise: a massive meteor, hurtling through the atmosphere and so spectacularly bright that it lit the night sky. According [to an American Meteor Society (AMS) report]() by fireball report coordinator Robert Lunsford, the agency received almost 150 individual accounts, many complete with dazzling videos, of the cosmic event, which was visible in a total of eight states around 2am EST. "It was so bright and amazing that it made my dog get off the couch to inspect," [detailed one Illinois viewer](). https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=8&v=0b-zMaU2tQk&feature=emb\_logo ## Mr. 305 A fireball, as the weekend's spectacle has officially been classified, is a meteor that's bigger and brighter than usual. And while they're technically not uncommon, a sight like the one on Saturday is quite rare to catch. "Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight," read the AMS report. "Additionally, the brighter the fireball, the more rare is the event." Though one worried watcher in Ohio [reported that]() "it looked like it was going fast and looked like it would hit Earth, kinda," the experts were careful to note in their write-up that the lack of any reported booms — or, you know, new craters anywhere — signals that the fireball disintegrated in the atmosphere before it was able to do any damage. Instead, a few watchful Americans got the view of a lifetime, nevermind the footage to prove it. "I've never seen anything like what I just saw," [wrote one Hoosier](). "It was beautiful, exciting, and prompted me to do quick research and to see who else may have seen it as well." **READ MORE:** [*Huge, 'Beautiful' Fireball Filmed Over Indiana, Streaking Across 8 States*]() \[*Newsweek*\] **More on meteors:** [*Residents Hear Loud Boom That Turns out to Be a Meteor*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()