Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Something is happening with fireballs — and the data backs it up.
In the first quarter of 2026, the American Meteor Society logged 2,322 fireball events — the highest total on record. But the raw count isn't the strange part. What changed is the number of high-witness events: 40 fireballs drew 50+ reports (versus an average of ~20), and 16 drew 100+ (versus ~8). Long-duration sighting reports hit 1,693 — more than 2.5x the previous record of 651 set in 2021.
In this video I go through the CNEOS (NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies) fireball database event by event — checking the size, speed, and energy of these incoming objects, cross-referencing the eyewitness reports, and looking at the footage people captured across the US and Europe. Some are tiny airbursts. Some are earth-grazers trying to escape the atmosphere. And a few of them still don't have an easy explanation.
AMS points to one likely factor — AI assistants sending more people to report — but that alone doesn't account for the elevated sonic booms or the recovered meteorite falls. So what's actually going on? Let's look at the data together.
Happy July 4th, Rayliens. This is my way of showing you the fireworks.
Subscribe for more: youtube.com/@RaysAstrophotography?sub_confirmation=1
I'll be doing a Part 2 / live session with more of this data soon.
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SOURCES
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American Meteor Society (AMS) — Fireball Reports & Q1 2026 Analysis
NASA CNEOS — Center for Near-Earth Object Studies fireball database
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FOOTAGE CREDITS
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[ADD the names/handles of the reporters and videographers whose clips appear in this video — e.g. Troy Sanders, and any others from the AMS reports. Fill before upload.]
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I'm Ray — I go by Cosmic Ray on this channel. I investigate fireballs, earthquakes, solar activity, volcanoes, and the anomalies most people miss. If you like data-driven space science with no hype, you're in the right place.
#fireball #meteor #CNEOS #AMS #meteorite #astronomy #spaceweather #bolide
Something is happening with fireballs — and the data backs it up.
In the first quarter of 2026, the American Meteor Society logged 2,322 fireball events — the highest total on record. But the raw count isn't the strange part. What changed is the number of high-witness events: 40 fireballs drew 50+ reports (versus an average of ~20), and 16 drew 100+ (versus ~8). Long-duration sighting reports hit 1,693 — more than 2.5x the previous record of 651 set in 2021.
In this video I go through the CNEOS (NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies) fireball database event by event — checking the size, speed, and energy of these incoming objects, cross-referencing the eyewitness reports, and looking at the footage people captured across the US and Europe. Some are tiny airbursts. Some are earth-grazers trying to escape the atmosphere. And a few of them still don't have an easy explanation.
AMS points to one likely factor — AI assistants sending more people to report — but that alone doesn't account for the elevated sonic booms or the recovered meteorite falls. So what's actually going on? Let's look at the data together.
Happy July 4th, Rayliens. This is my way of showing you the fireworks.
Subscribe for more: youtube.com/@RaysAstrophotography?sub_confirmation=1
I'll be doing a Part 2 / live session with more of this data soon.
-----------------------------
SOURCES
-----------------------------
American Meteor Society (AMS) — Fireball Reports & Q1 2026 Analysis
NASA CNEOS — Center for Near-Earth Object Studies fireball database
-----------------------------
FOOTAGE CREDITS
-----------------------------
[ADD the names/handles of the reporters and videographers whose clips appear in this video — e.g. Troy Sanders, and any others from the AMS reports. Fill before upload.]
-----------------------------
I'm Ray — I go by Cosmic Ray on this channel. I investigate fireballs, earthquakes, solar activity, volcanoes, and the anomalies most people miss. If you like data-driven space science with no hype, you're in the right place.
#fireball #meteor #CNEOS #AMS #meteorite #astronomy #spaceweather #bolide
