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If you saw a bright, fast streak that looked like a huge shooting star, report it through the American Meteor Society (AMS) Fireball Report Form. Record the date, local time and time zone, location, brightness, color, duration, apparent length and direction before submitting. You do not need a photograph or video, and no purchase or special equipment is required.
Use the AMS fireball form first
AMS accepts fireball reports from around the world. Its interactive eyewitness form is the main route for reporting a suspected fireball and is designed to collect the timing, direction, brightness and other observations that allow reports from different witnesses to be compared. AMS says the reports alert it to potentially scientifically significant events and contribute to its meteor database.
Open the AMS Fireball Report Form as soon as practical after the sighting. The form’s introduction uses plain language: “You saw something bright and fast? Like a huge shooting star?” That description is a useful starting point, even if you are not certain the object was a meteor.
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Decide whether the sighting fits AMS’s fireball program
AMS defines a fireball as a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude -4—approximately as bright as Venus when Venus is visible in the morning or evening sky. A bolide is a type of fireball that ends in a bright terminal flash and often shows fragmentation.
Brightness alone is not enough to identify an event. The most useful initial test is how quickly it crossed the sky and how long it remained visible.
| What you saw | How it compares with AMS’s fireball criteria | Reporting guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Bright streak lasting a few seconds | Consistent with a fireball or another meteor | Submit the report, even if you are unsure of the exact classification. |
| Slow blinking light or two lights traveling together | Listed by AMS as an event not to submit through its fireball program | Do not use the fireball form for this description. |
| Object or glowing trail visible for several minutes or hours | More consistent with a contrail or another persistent phenomenon than a meteor | AMS’s FAQ says a contrail can remain visible for minutes or hours, whereas a fireball usually lasts only seconds. |
| Comet-like rocket launch lasting several minutes | Specifically excluded by the form’s guidance | Do not submit it as a fireball. |
| Aircraft, rocket launch, satellite or sky lantern | Not accepted in the AMS fireball program | Do not use the fireball form for these objects. |
| Event lasting longer than 30 seconds | Outside the form’s stated fireball-reporting scope | Do not submit that sighting through this program. |
Cloud cover is another useful clue. AMS’s FAQ explains that clouds above the sighting rule out a meteor because meteors burn much higher than clouds. Treat this as a screening aid, not as a reason to discard a report when your view was partial or the weather description is uncertain.
Record the details before memory fades
Write down your observations immediately, or dictate them into your phone if you are still outside. A short note made within minutes is usually more reliable than trying to reconstruct the event later.
Date, clock time and time zone
Record the calendar date, the local clock time and your time zone. If your phone or camera recorded a timestamp, preserve it, but check whether the device was set to local time, daylight-saving time or UTC. AMS pages emphasize timing because reports from several locations can only be compared when the times are understood.
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Location
Note where you were standing. A street address, town and country are useful; a latitude and longitude from a mapping app can add precision. If you were moving, such as in a vehicle, record the location where you first noticed the event and where you were when it disappeared.
Brightness
Describe how bright the object appeared relative to familiar lights. You might compare it with the full Moon, Venus, a bright star or a streetlight, but make clear that the comparison is your visual estimate. Do not turn the magnitude -4 definition into a claim that you measured a precise magnitude; it is AMS’s classification threshold for a very bright meteor.
Color
Record the color or colors you noticed—such as white, yellow, orange, green or blue—and whether the color changed during the flight. If you saw no distinct color, say so rather than guessing.
Duration and apparent length
Estimate how long the light was visible and how far it appeared to travel across the sky. “Less than a second,” “about two seconds” and “several seconds” are all more useful than an unsupported exact figure. Note whether the path was a short dash, a long line or a fragmenting trail.
Direction, elevation and star background
The strongest description identifies where the fireball began and ended against recognizable star constellations. If you cannot name the constellations, give the compass direction—north, northeast, east and so on—and the angular elevation above the horizon. You can describe elevation in everyday terms: near the horizon, halfway up the sky or overhead. Include both the starting and ending positions when you remember them.
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Behavior at the end
State whether the light faded gradually, ended abruptly, flashed brightly, split into pieces or left a trail. A bright terminal flash or visible fragmentation can be relevant to a bolide classification, but you do not need to decide whether it was a bolide before reporting.
Submit the report step by step
- Open the AMS form. Go to the interactive Fireball Report Form and read its introductory guidance.
- Enter the event time and place. Use the date, local time, time zone and location you recorded. Check the time-zone setting before continuing.
- Describe the motion. Provide the direction and elevation, or the beginning and ending points against constellations. Include the apparent length and estimated duration.
- Describe the appearance. Add brightness, color, flashes, fragmentation and any visible trail. Use estimates when necessary and identify them as estimates.
- Answer the media question. The form asks whether you have a photo or video. Select the answer that matches what you actually have; media is optional, not a condition for filing.
- Review for obvious errors. Check that the date is correct, the time zone is identified and north, south, east or west has not been reversed. Correct an accidental extra zero in a time or duration if you notice one.
- Submit the form. Save any confirmation or reference information the site provides. If the application fails, try the simplified form rather than repeatedly sending an incomplete entry.
AMS’s contact guidance tells fireball witnesses to file a sighting report instead of emailing. The report captures the same core information and reaches the people who handle these observations. Use general contact channels for a site problem or another inquiry only when the form’s help route cannot resolve it.
Regular form or simplified form?
| Route | Choose it when | What to provide |
|---|---|---|
| Interactive fireball form | The AMS reporting application loads and accepts your entries | Your time, location and eyewitness description, plus the optional media response |
| Simplified fireball form | The interactive application has a technical problem | The same essential eyewitness information in a simpler interface |
The simplified form is a technical fallback, not an invitation to omit the event details you remember. If the problem is a temporary connection failure, keep your notes and try again when you have a stable connection.
Photos and video are helpful but optional
Do not delay a report while trying to obtain equipment, and do not assume that a report without media is useless. The AMS report flow asks whether the observer has a photo or video; it does not make media a prerequisite.
If you already have a recording, preserve the original file. Avoid editing, cropping or converting it before submitting, because the original timestamp and framing can help interpret the direction and duration. Add your own description even when the camera captured the streak: the camera may not show exactly where you were facing, how bright the event looked to your eyes or how long it appeared to last.
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A phone pointed at the sky can miss a fireball entirely, so an absent recording does not contradict your eyewitness account. Submit the observations you actually made rather than trying to infer missing details from a blank or dark video.
What happens after you submit
AMS says fireball reports are shared with interested organizations and retained for statistical study. It identifies the Meteoritical Society and the International Meteor Organization’s Fireball Data Center (FIDAC) among the recipients. When an event appears promising, AMS may bring it to planetary scientists working near the relevant geographic area.
AMS does not pursue meteorite recovery itself. A report can help researchers recognize that several people saw the same event, estimate a flight path and decide whether further scientific work is warranted, but submitting a form is not a request for a recovery team to visit your location.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Check whether other people saw the event
The AMS fireball log lets readers review reports received by date. In an October 2026 site update, AMS described its Fireball Event Viewer as a map showing eyewitness reports, reported travel directions, estimated ground paths and event summaries. Witness photos and videos can be opened from events when they are available.
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Use the log or viewer as a way to look for related observations after filing your own report. A matching time and track can suggest that multiple witnesses saw one event, but the map is a collection of reported estimates, not a replacement for your own description.
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Troubleshoot common situations
“I am not sure it was a meteor.”
Report a brief, bright, fast event if it fits the form’s scope and describe what you actually observed. The form is intended for eyewitness reports; you do not have to make a definitive scientific identification first. If the object was slow, blinking, paired, visible for minutes or clearly one of the categories AMS excludes, leave it out of the fireball program.
“I did not time it.”
Give your best honest estimate and label it as approximate. Relative descriptions such as “under a second,” “a few seconds” or “more than 30 seconds” are preferable to inventing precision. If another witness independently timed the event, keep that person’s estimate separate from your own.
“I cannot identify constellations.”
Use compass direction and elevation instead. A phone compass can help, but note if buildings, trees or hills made the direction uncertain. “Started in the northeast about halfway up the sky and ended toward the east near the horizon” is a useful description even without constellation names.
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“The event was partly hidden by cloud.”
Describe the cloud cover and exactly what you saw. AMS’s FAQ notes that clouds above a sighting rule out a meteor because meteors burn above the clouds, but a clear gap or a view before the cloud obscured the path can still be documented accurately. Do not fill in the hidden portion as if you observed it.
“The form will not work.”
Use AMS’s simplified form. If that also fails, keep your notes and use the site’s help or general contact route for the technical problem rather than sending a fireball description to an unrelated email address. AMS’s October 5, 2026 update said that, after a cyberattack against its previous hosting environment in early September, the fireball form was back online within a couple of days and no fireball data was lost after the initial disruption. Site availability can change, so check the live form when you report.
“Several of us saw it.”
Each witness can submit an independent report. Individual viewpoints provide different directions, elevations and durations, which can help AMS compare accounts. Do not copy one person’s description into every report; identify what each observer actually saw.
What you do not need
- No camera, telescope, detector or other equipment is required.
- No photograph or video is required.
- No exact scientific classification is required before submission.
- No purchase, subscription or paid service is involved in filing the witness report.
- You do not need to email AMS when the fireball form is available.
AMS has mentioned a future announcement about obtaining AllSky7 camera hardware and participating in its camera network, but it has not established current availability, price or a program for this basic reporting task. A camera is therefore not part of the reporting procedure.
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- Write down the date, local time and time zone.
- Record your location.
- Estimate brightness and note color.
- Estimate duration and apparent length.
- Record the direction and elevation, or the star fields where the object began and ended.
- Note a flash, fragmentation or persistent trail.
- Keep any original photo or video file.
- Submit the AMS form, or its simplified version if the interactive app has a technical problem.
The practical rule is simple: a bright, fast event that lasted only a few seconds belongs in the AMS fireball-reporting route even when you have no media and are uncertain about the final identification. A slow, blinking, paired or long-lasting object is outside that program’s stated scope.
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