Meteor, fireball lights up sky in New Jersey, other east coast states: Watch video

A meteor was seen gracing the skies over New Jersey and several other east coast states early Wednesday morning.

The American Meteor Society said it received 44 reports about a "fireball" seen flying over states as far south as Delaware and as far north as Connecticut around 3:45 a.m. ET Wednesday morning. The AMS also received seven videos and one photo of the fireball.

The American Meteor Society is a non-profit that "encourages and promotes research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers," according to its website, observes, monitors, and collects information on meteors, meteoric fireballs, meteoric trains and related meteoric phenomena.

"We were looking at the footage and we saw a big bright light," Bruce Snyder, of North Coventry Township, Pennsylvania, told 6abc Action News, a TV station based in Philadelphia. Snyder told the news outlet he was checking on his outdoor cats using his porch camera, but instead saw the fireball falling in the sky.

Watch:Doordash driver's dashcam video shows meteor illuminate night sky in Florida

Lyrid meteor shower begins April 15

The Lyrid meteor shower, one of the oldest known Metroid showers, starts Monday and runs through April 29.

This year the shower will peak in the late evening of April 21 through dawn on April 22.

The first recorded sighting of a Lyrid meteor shower − which will be seen by people across the world next week − dates back to 687 BC by the Chinese, according to NASA.

If the sky is dark, and the moon is absent during this year's show, experts say, at peak viewers can expect to see 10 to 15 Lyrids each hour.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.