Video: Maine Patrol Car Camera Captures Images of Huge Meteor Fireball

A Portland, ME, officer's in-car video system captured spectacular footage of a meteor burning up over New England early Tuesday morning.

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VIDEO: Maine Patrol Car Camera Captures Images of Huge Meteor Fireball

A Portland, ME, officer's in-car video system captured spectacular footage of a meteor burning up over New England early Tuesday morning.

The officer had been looking for speeders at an intersection when he saw the fireball around 1 a.m. Tuesday.

FOX25's Shiri Spear says fireballs are bigger and brighter “shooting stars,” or meteors.  In fact, the criteria stipulates that it’s as bright or brighter than Venus to qualify. It’s vibrancy is due to the larger size of the debris burning up in the atmosphere.

There were over 150 reports of the fireball Monday night into early Tuesday morning, with most of the reports coming in around 1:50 a.m., according to the American Meteor Society.

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