Dramatic fireball lit up skies over the U.S. East Coast

This map created by Mike Hankey of the American Meteor Society depicts the sighting reports of the March 22, 2013, fireball that lit up the East Coast night sky. 

CREDIT: Mike Hankey/American Meteor Society

The dramatic fireball that lit up skies over the U.S. East Coast Friday evening (March 22) was caused by an asteroid just 3 feet (0.9 meters) or so wide, scientists say.

Such boulder-size asteroids slam into Earth's atmosphere every two or three days, so Friday's "Manhattan meteor" — which shone as brightly as the full moon and was apparently visible from Maine to North Carolina — isn't a terribly rare event. But the sensation it created on Twitter and other social media outlets is understandable nonetheless, said NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke.

"When you have something like this occur at 8 o'clock at night over one of the most populated regions of the United States, it's going to get people's attention," Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., told reporters today (March 23).

Indeed, a similar meteor caused a stir last month when it blazed through the skies above California's densely populated Bay Area.