Portland Police Officer Captures Meteor On Dashcam

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A meteor heading for earth was caught on a Portland police officer’s dashcam hurtling through the sky over Maine on Tuesday.

The fast moving piece of space rock is seen burning up in the atmosphere in a massive bright fireball and then disappearing beyond the horizon.

Sputnik reports:

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The footage was captured on the dashcam of Sergeant Tim Farris, just before 1:00 AM, and was shared on the department’s Facebook page in a post with the hashtag #StarWars:

“You never know what you are going to see on duty. Sgt. Farris was looking for speeders while parked in front of the central fire station and was able to observe some visitors ‘from away’….far away. The meteor (or alien spaceship) was caught on camera at approximately 0050 hours. Let’s hope the visitors are friendly. They could just be some of Stephen King’s friends on their way to visit him. Whom ever they are I’m sure we could win them over with a whoopie pie.”

The spectacular footage was reposted on the website of the American Meteor Society, pulling so much traffic that it crashed their website.

New Photo (+ video & map) of the #Fireball caught on May 17 over Northeastern US.. https://t.co/9sl1NJ9fDD #meteor pic.twitter.com/SpJ0cSGwDx

— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) May 17, 2016

By dawn, some 225 sightings of the fireball were reported to the Meteor Society, all across the North East, from Canada to New Jersey, as quick-fingered witnesses managed to get cameras out quickly and posted their photos and videos on social media.

Another officer in Maine witnessed the meteor, but unfortunately it was just outside his dashcam’s field. The department posted the footage to Facebook anyways though, as it still lit up the sky.

Northeastern US #Fireball – new exclusive video. https://t.co/9sl1NJ9fDD #meteor pic.twitter.com/wrzXStGPyI

— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) May 17, 2016

“Anyone else catch tonight’s ‪#‎Fireball‬? It certainly lit up the sky as the video from Officer Hendee shows. Unfortunately the fireball and large flame trail were just out of the camera’s frame. It was the most impressive one we’ve ever seen!” the Cumberland Police posted.