NASA has a lot of programs that don't always capture the public's attention the way, say, a rover on Mars does. But its All Sky Fireball Network, a collection of 15 cameras pointed at the sky, has grabbed a bit of attention today by catching one of its objects of interest as it lit up the skies over Pennsylvania.

NASA's meteor watch group has used its Facebook page to provide some of the basic stats on the rock that generated this fireball: a bit over half a meter in diameter but about 250 kg, it was moving at a speed of over 70,000 km/hour as it entered the atmosphere moving west to east. It was tracked descending from 60 miles in altitude down to 13 miles.

The video below shows the images of the visitor captured by one of the All Sky Fireball Network's cameras.

The event was picked up by three different NASA cameras, making it unusually well documented. Calculations of the rock's trajectory suggest that it originated in the asteroid belt and that any significant pieces that survived the plunge through the atmosphere will be found somewhere northeast of Pittsburgh. NASA has already made an animation that represents a meteor's eye view of the rock's approach to Earth.