The Great Daylight Fireball
A meteor skimmed through the atmosphere over the Rockies in broad daylight, then went back out into space.
What was reported
On the afternoon of 10 August 1972, a brilliant fireball crossed the sky from Utah northwards over Idaho and Montana into Canada, visible for more than a minute and a half. A tourist at Jackson Lake, in Grand Teton National Park, filmed it, and a photograph taken there became famous.
Unlike most fireballs, it neither exploded nor fell. It left a glowing trail across the clear sky and disappeared to the north.
Explanations offered
It was an object a few metres across that entered the atmosphere at a very shallow angle, came within about 57 km of the ground, then skipped back out into space like a stone off water. US military satellites tracked it too. The encounter changed its orbit around the Sun.
- When
- 10 August 1972
- Where
- Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
- Witnesses
- Holidaymakers across the western US and Canada
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.