Astronomy Essentials

Fireball over Germany! Did you see it?

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April 16, 2022

Bright streak of a fireball heading downward between trees. — An automatic AllSky7 system based across Europe took this fireball photograph on April 15, 2022. This particular camera system was located in Hofheim am Taunus, Hessen, Germany, and operated by Martin Timpe. Image via AllSky7 Fireball Network Europe. If you witnessed this fireball, the IMO invites you to fill out a fireball report as soon as possible.

Did you see the fireball last night over Germany?

Last night, April 15, 2022, skywatchers reported a brilliant fireball seen and photographed across west-central Europe at 23:27 CEST (21:27 UTC). So far, there have been 32 reports sent to the International Meteor Organization (IMO) of this event. The event page for this fireball is here. If you witnessed this fireball, the IMO invites you to fill out a fireball report as soon as possible.

At the website, you will find a map showing the locations of each witness across west-central Europe. You can adjust the map to display each witness or a heat map. You might also add or remove observing directions in the witness display. If you use the heat map option, you will notice a short trajectory of this fireball near the town of Saarbrücken, Germany. This trajectory is computer generated using the data provided by each witness. There are also several more impressive photographs taken by the AllSky7 Fireball Network available on the event page.

Preliminary analysis indicates that this was a random fireball and not associated with any known meteor shower. Due to the lack of sound associated with this fireball, it is believed that this object completely disintegrated while still high in the atmosphere and that no meteorites survived all the way to the ground.

Map of Europe with figures of people facing different directions. — As of this writing (11:30 UTC on April 16), the International Meteor Organization has received 32 reports of the fireball over Germany last night. Did you see it? Submit your report here.

Bottom line: A fireball lit up the skies over Germany last night. If you witnessed this fireball the IMO invites you to fill out a fireball report as soon as possible.

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April 16, 2022

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Astronomy Essentials

Robert Lunsford

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About the Author:

Robert has been interested in the stars as far back as he can recall. His first experience with meteors was a biggie, the 1966 Leonid shower. In 1980, a major awaking occurred. He received a sample copy of Meteor News. He was amazed to learn there was a group actually devoted strictly to meteor observing! He joined the group, also started to view some of the minor showers list among the pages of Meteor News. Lastly, he was contracted by Springer Publishing in 2007 to write a book on observing meteors. The book is now available and hopefully will be a useful guide to all interested in the enjoyable field of meteor observing.