{"id":667475,"date":"2026-03-19T19:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/667475\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T19:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:39:15","slug":"ohio-man-finds-possible-meteorite-after-bright-fireball-streaks-across-12-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/667475\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio man finds possible meteorite after bright fireball streaks across 12 states"},"content":{"rendered":"

People in northern Ohio are already discovering pieces of space rock after a meteor streaked through the atmosphere<\/a> over 12 states on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

According to NASA, the fireball was first visible above Lake Erie before moving southeast at about 40,000 mph. The agency estimates the event was caused by a small asteroid roughly 6 feet in diameter, weighing about 7 tons.<\/p>\n

\"Photos<\/p>\n

Photos show possible fragments of a meteorite recovered in Windfall, Ohio on March 18. 2026. A large meteor was spotted in the area on March 17, 2026. (Image credit: Roberto Vargas)<\/p>\n

Roberto Vargas of Windfall<\/a>, Ohio, is among the first to report finding a possible meteorite fragment. Photos shared with AccuWeather show a dark, rock-like object consistent with freshly fallen meteorites.<\/p>\n

NASA analysis indicates the find was made within a projected debris field where additional fragments could still be on the ground awaiting discovery.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A fireball meteor seen over Cleveland, Ohio, on NOAA’s GOES lightning mapper on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Image: NOAA GOES EAST)<\/p>\n

Data from NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science office shows the falling meteorites were detected on three weather radars, including systems in Cleveland<\/a> and Pittsburgh. The mapped debris field suggests potential fragments could be scattered from the Easton area to Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\"AccuWeather.com\"<\/p>\n

Red shows where ~10kg meteorites would land if this fall produced any. Dark orange is ~1kg, orange is ~100g, light orange is ~10g, and yellow is ~1g and smaller. (Image credit: NASA)<\/p>\n

Anyone who believes they have found a meteorite should handle it carefully using clean gloves, tongs or new aluminum foil to avoid contamination. NASA says meteorites are not harmful, but proper handling helps preserve their scientific value.<\/p>\n

After securing the object in a clean zip-top bag, it can be submitted for analysis through one of the organizations listed here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People in northern Ohio are already discovering pieces of space rock after a meteor streaked through the atmosphere…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":667476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[24],"tags":[13593,282152,136252,17187,916,1573,282151,159,783,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-667475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-cleveland","tag-fireball-meteor","tag-image-credit","tag-meteorite","tag-nasa","tag-ohio","tag-roberto-vargas","tag-science","tag-space","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116257539296524445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}