Texas Fireball
Last night April 14 a fireball streaked across the sky in Milwaukee Wisconsin that could be seen in six surrounding states. I’ve received reports about the sighting from Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio so I figured I’d give a little insight. Between January and now, meteor shower activity is very minimal and right now a usually very weak minor meteor shower known as the Gama Virginids could be responsible for this fireball or it could just be a random sporadic event.
The Lyrids Meteor Shower starts today and will be most active in the morning hours of April 22nd. When one sees a meteor or fireball it doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with a meteor shower. There are millions of pieces of debris that hit the Earth’s atmosphere on a daily basis and very few are witnessed. This particular event happened at a good time where it could be viewed by a lot of people. This meteor was very bright and even though I’ve had people on the site commenting that there was a massive explosion in the sky, the meteoroid has been reported by NASA to be about 3 feet wide, which is still pretty big considering that when you watch a meteor shower most of the meteors are the size of a grain of sand or as big as a pea. Meteors will usually disintegrate before hitting Earth, but there’s always a chance they can reach Earth. I’m not sure if this one reached the ground, but if it did, the pieces would be very small.
Fireballs and meteors are spectacular events, they are pieces of the beginnings of the universe, and I’m always envious of anyone lucky enough to see them. I enjoy reading your stories and comments so feel free to ask questions or just post your sightings. The next meteor shower, the Lyrids peaks April 22 where you may see about 18 to 22 meteors per hour. They probably won’t be as big or spectacular but it’s always worth a look. It’s free to join the mailing list on the right side of the page and keep your head up.
- Meteor Mark
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
On April 14th, In Rhode Island around 8:45pm within the Orion constellation (which was in the western sky) my friends and I saw a fireball streak across the sky for about 5 seconds until it disappeared. I highly doubt it was the same one but it was probably a Lyrid meteor.
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Billy,
It definitely was not the same meteor. The Lyrids don’t start until April 16th also. It was probably a sporadic meteor. Keep your head up the Lyrids are coming!
- Meteor Mark
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
I live in Los Angeles
But I really want to see Lyrids meteor shower on April 22nd morning. Is that possible?
It said i should go to the desert since it is too bright on the city..
thanx
on Apr 16th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Endah,
The meteor shower is viewable in California after midnight in the morning of April 22. I wouldn’t expect to see a lot of meteors in this one, but going to a place that is dark where you can see faint more stars will help. Go to a safe dark area away from city lights and enjoy. (April 21 through the dawn of April 22 is the time to look, meteors are best seen after midnight on April 22 – 12:01 AM to 5:00 AM Anywhere)
Keep your head up.
- Meteor Mark
on Apr 17th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I live in southern alabama and on the 16th me and some friends saw what we believe was a fireball it looked like a smaller one than the fireball from wisconsin. This was around midnight.
on Apr 18th, 2010 at 2:55 am
On Wednesday evening at approx. 8:40 pm (Eastern Daylight Saving Time) I saw in the eastern sky over central Toronto, at about 45 degrees above horizon, a bright streak of light that faded and broke up as it moved downward to earth. It lasted about 3 seconds.
At first I thought it was fireworks but quickly realized what it actually was.
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
I live in rural SE Indiana (Vevay) and on my way to work this morning (04/20/10) at about 6:30 am, I looked up just in time to see the big bright round orb of light that had like a streak of bright tailing behind it and a very distinct green glow. It was very close to the ground and by the time I drove past some trees to see if I could still see it, it was or appeared to be gone. Is this one of the meteors that you have described?
on Apr 20th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Dara,
From your description it sounds like a meteor or fireball. I’d have to be there to see it.
Thanks for the comment. Keep your head up!
- Meteor Mark
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 12:13 am
I seen the metor on friday the 16th at about close to 10:30 mountain time. I live in hesprus colorado. it lite the whole horizon up mand then just fell or vanished like a light switch. It honestly scared me, it look like the sun was falling. i told my husband i thaught it was a metor or an asteroid.
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 1:03 am
What I belive Dara saw this morning may have been the Space Shuttle on it’s deorbit burn. According to CNN, the path was from approx. Minneapolis, to Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, to Cape Canaveral. And the time she saw this was about right according to the news story.
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 1:09 am
Phil,
It’s possible. I didn’t think of that, but it could have been a meteor too. Since the site is about meteors, I’ll stick to that. Thanks for the comment. I’m having a little fun with you, you’re probably right.
Keep your head up!
- Meteor Mark
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 8:41 am
Saw a fireball tonight. A big flash then a ball of fire out of the sky. Live in the Mallee in Australia so great visability for miles. It was quite amazing. My daughter was a little scared after seeing it as we weren’t sure for a moment what had just happened.
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Hi,
A few of us saw what was a very bizarre siting in the skies over Modesto, CA on Monday, April 19, 2010, somewhere between 8:00 and 9:00 PM PST. It didn’t “streak” across the sky, though, like others say meteors do? It moved very slowly – almost as if it were just drifting with the wind – and looked to me like it were the fire that a hot air balloon used. It would flare up, then get dull….all while it was SLOWLY moving across the sky, like an airplane would do. There were no other lights – no tail lights/wing lights like on a plane, and nothing else was visible except for this fire glow. Sparks would fall off of it every minute or so. It was about the size of maybe 4 large stars clustered together – not really big at all. We watched it for about 5 mins. while standing in the restaurant parking lot as we were walking to our cars, and then it flared up and then finally it just went out completely.
Did anyone else see this, and if so, is there any explanation?
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Linda,
It was possibly the recent space shuttle mission re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Thanks for the comment. Lyrids Meteor Shower is coming within the next 24 hours, keep your head up.
- Meteor Mark
on Apr 27th, 2010 at 5:57 am
I was wondering, what, if such great meteor, who killed dinosaurs. (link removed) Would hit the earth once again ? Is it possible ?
on Apr 27th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Dani,
It is possible. I’m not really going to focus on it because I don’t have the tools to predict the event or give evidence it won’t occur either. Always keep your head up! Life is great and enjoy.
- Meteor Mark