A mystery ‘fireball’ was witnessed streaking through the sky in multiple states across the southeastern United States.
Witnesses from Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee claimed seeing the object.
Some individuals questioned if they saw a meteor.
“A meteor just exploded over Atlanta and appears to have potentially left shards somewhere in South Carolina!” atmospheric scientist and storm chaser Matthew Cappucci said.
“The American Meteor Society has 128 formal reports pending of a fireball spotted around 12:24 PM Eastern time. It appears to have passed over Atlanta and exploded before fragmenting and potentially leaving meteorites over parts of South Carolina,” he continued.
“The GOES East (GOES 19) geostationary lightning mapper detected a bright flash over Atlanta at 12:24 PM. There wasn’t any lightning – meaning this appears to have been the meteor,” he added.
BREAKING: A meteor just exploded over Atlanta and appears to have potentially left shards somewhere in South Carolina!
The American Meteor Society has 128 formal reports pending of a fireball spotted around 12:24 PM Eastern time. It appears to have passed over Atlanta and… pic.twitter.com/lkSjKUI7DI
— Matthew Cappucci (@MatthewCappucci) June 26, 2025
Daily Mail reports:
Police scanner audio in Spartanburg, South Carolina captured a call from a woman who reported a ‘giant ball of fire’ falling from the sky, a sight echoed by witnesses from Tennessee to Georgia.
‘I’m not crazy! I just saw a huge ball of fire fall from the sky in East Tennessee around the Cherokee National Forest!’ a firefighter wrote on X.
‘Anyone else see it? Right around 12:20pm ET. Very cool but a little unnerving given the current times!’
While some speculated it could have been a falling aircraft, the firefighter described it as ‘like a mini sun falling with a tail of fire.’
In Georgia, one resident said they not only saw the object, but heard it pass overhead and felt the ground shake when it hit.
The National Weather Service confirmed the many reports across the Southeast US saying: ‘It is not certain, but the satellite-based lightning detection shows a streak within cloud-free sky over the NC/VA border, over Gasbury, VA.
‘This streak was detected between 12:51 to 12:56 pm.’
WATCH:
Fireball seen today across the southeast. Maybe space debris or a very large meteor. #fireball video via John Eckard in Lexington, SC. pic.twitter.com/4dMFZzbOIu
— Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) June 26, 2025
🚨#BREAKING: Dozens of people across North Carolina are reporting that they have seen a "fireball" streaking across the sky.
Does anyone know what this is?! pic.twitter.com/P0MYsZJPpl
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) June 26, 2025
VIDEO | This was the view from Greenwood, South Carolina showing the object falling out of the sky. Getting reports of sightings out of Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. @11AliveNews pic.twitter.com/o7JhgD2Hr6
— Cody Alcorn (@CodyAlcorn) June 26, 2025
Per CNN:
The American Meteor Society has received numerous reports of a fireball over the US Southeast on Thursday afternoon – reports that are logged on its website.
ADVERTISEMENT“It looks to be a ‘daytime fireball’ that caused a sonic boom. This is usually indicative of a (meteor) dropping a fireball, but not always,” Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, told CNN.
The Federal Aviation Administration told CNN that there was no unusual aircraft activity in the area.
“Satellite-based lighting detection show a streak within cloud free sky over the NC/VA border,” the National Weather Service in Charleston said on X.
“This streak was detected between 12:51 to 12:56 p.m.,” NWS added.
Analysis of satellite-based lightning detection by CNN show additional signatures over the Atlanta area.
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