Meteor

[tornado]

at approx 10:05PM I saw a large ball of flame with a long streaking tail shoot across the northern sky from the northwest towards the due north and disappear at about the extreme north horizon..

anyone else see it?? It was clearly a large meteor high up in the atmosphere flaming out...

within 10 minutes there were thousands of reports on twitter of people who saw the same event -- and they saw it in northern half of Iowa, upper half of Illinois, all over Wisconsin and in Michigan..

The people near Madison Wisconsin reported it to be more directly overhead while all the people further to the south of Madison saw it in the northern sky - so obviously all were seeing the same event.

We will probably read more about in the press..........

[tornado]

one twitter from a person in West Lima, Wisconsin said they heard the sonic boom and felt it strike the ground nearby..

West Lima is 40 miles NW of Madison Wisc.

[Future Walk-On]

one twitter from a person in West Lima, Wisconsin said they heard the sonic boom and felt it strike the ground nearby..

West Lima is 40 miles NW of Madison Wisc.

I thought you meant Peru...

I was like oh **** the sun won't be out tomorrow

[Da Coach]

Huge fireball lights up Midwest skies

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04/meteor-spotted-over-midwest.html

Meteor Lights Up The Night (with really cool video- meteor starts 28 seconds into video)-

http://www.kimt.com/content/localnews/story/Meteor-Lights-Up-The-Night/ZQBcR5a9c0-W5EdOmqITng.cspx

Time-lapse photos showing meteor-

http://www.aos.wisc.edu/fireball/2010_04_14_fireball_loop_1024x768_long.gif

This meteor is likely part of a meteor shower that peaks about this time each year as the earth moves through a cluster of asteroids whose orbits intersect with the earth's.-

http://meteorshowersonline.com/showers/gamma_virginids.html

http://www.worldcorrespondents.com/gamma-virginids-meteor-shower-2010/883132

More reports-

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_e9bce742-4847-11df-8158-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/most_popular_story.aspx?storyid=120509&provider=top

http://www.wisn.com/news/23156299/detail.html

Many more reports from all over the midwest from a google search-

http://www.google.com/#q=meteor&num=100&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=s&rlz=1R2ADRA_enUS346&tbs=nws:1,sbd:1&ei=Nd_GS5-OIoXUNb6apNwI&sa=X&oi=tool&resnum=1&ct=tlink&ved=0CCwQpwU&fp=de23072ab3a8f8f5

Report from Bloomington Pantagraph-people reporting possible impact near there-

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/article_5e72a464-4848-11df-8609-001cc4c002e0.html

[Double D]

I saw it...it was unbelievable! I was sitting in my living room and we live in the country so their is no other light outside. It was so bright I thought it was a spot light from a farm tractor. I sat up and watched it streak accross the sky due north. It looked like it burned out low on the nothern horizon from my vantage point.

[Bravesfan]

at approx 10:05PM I saw a large ball of flame with a long streaking tail shoot across the northern sky from the northwest towards the due north and disappear at about the extreme north horizon..

anyone else see it?? It was clearly a large meteor high up in the atmosphere flaming out...

within 10 minutes there were thousands of reports on twitter of people who saw the same event -- and they saw it in northern half of Iowa, upper half of Illinois, all over Wisconsin and in Michigan..

The people near Madison Wisconsin reported it to be more directly overhead while all the people further to the south of Madison saw it in the northern sky - so obviously all were seeing the same event.

We will probably read more about in the press..........

Darn, I missed it! But I have seen some great video of it near Madison posted on the Chicago National Weather Service website. It looked like it exploded when it hit the ground! Hopefully people did not panic and think we were being attacked by someone!

[Future Walk-On]

I bet it was a missile from Russia

[BUfan14]

Man I wish I would've seen it! Just watched the videos, it is amazing. I think I'd have panicked a little had I seen it though.

[tornado]

funny how much writeup this is getting all over the midwest from central Iowa and Illinois all the way north to Canada...

but I found a few comments kinda mutually exclusive...I guess showing that since these statements
cannot possibly all be true since they cointradict each other so starkly, that it's obvious many experts must be 100% wrong!!!



Many of the quoted experts said -
"it is part of a meteor shower that occurs this time of year and it means there could be more such events over the next few days"
BUT ------
one other guy says..."it's an event that's quite rare" and "even experienced observers might see such an event only once or twice in a lifetime"...and
"the Midwestern fireball's timing is just a coincidence. And the annual Lyrid meteor shower is scheduled to begin Friday and peak on April 22. And Meteorites have no connection with meteor showers, which usually result when the Earth passes through the dusty tail of a comet"



also - most experts said it was likely an object falling from space that was "about the size of a volleyball"
..but this expert says he has
"rejected the misconception that the meteor is very tiny object" ..and
...it was "six feet (1.8 meters) wide and weighed roughly a thousand pounds (453 kilograms) or more"

http://www.khabrein.info/news/Meteor_shower_April_2010__Wisconsin_meteor_fall_scares_many_1271413594/

and one last discrepancy--
most experts said it likely exploded and burned up in the atmosphere and there's no evidence that any of the meteor reached the ground...
...but this guy says that it -
"landed in Wisconsin" and
"Before it hit the ground, the meteor would have fragmented into dozens or
hundreds of pieces, each about the size of a football or smaller"

http://www.khabrein.info/news/Meteor_shower_April_2010__Wisconsin_meteor_fall_scares_many_1271413594/

should we take a poll on these questions?? Seems like since the experts disagree so completely on this, that viewer opinion is just as likely to be accurate!

[Double D]

funny how much writeup this is getting all over the midwest from central Iowa and Illinois all the way north to Canada...

but I found a few comments kinda mutually exclusive...I guess showing that since these statements
cannot possibly all be true since they cointradict each other so starkly, that it's obvious many experts must be 100% wrong!!!



Many of the quoted experts said -
"it is part of a meteor shower that occurs this time of year and it means there could be more such events over the next few days"
BUT ------
one other guy says..."it's an event that's quite rare" and "even experienced observers might see such an event only once or twice in a lifetime"...and
"the Midwestern fireball's timing is just a coincidence. And the annual Lyrid meteor shower is scheduled to begin Friday and peak on April 22. And Meteorites have no connection with meteor showers, which usually result when the Earth passes through the dusty tail of a comet"



also - most experts said it was likely an object falling from space that was "about the size of a volleyball"
..but this expert says he has
"rejected the misconception that the meteor is very tiny object" ..and
...it was "six feet (1.8 meters) wide and weighed roughly a thousand pounds (453 kilograms) or more"

http://www.khabrein.info/news/Meteor_shower_April_2010__Wisconsin_meteor_fall_scares_many_1271413594/

and one last discrepancy--
most experts said it likely exploded and burned up in the atmosphere and there's no evidence that any of the meteor reached the ground...
...but this guy says that it -
"landed in Wisconsin" and
"Before it hit the ground, the meteor would have fragmented into dozens or
hundreds of pieces, each about the size of a football or smaller"

http://www.khabrein.info/news/Meteor_shower_April_2010__Wisconsin_meteor_fall_scares_many_1271413594/

should we take a poll on these questions?? Seems like since the experts disagree so completely on this, that viewer opinion is just as likely to be accurate!

In no way do I have any base of knowledge to actually know...but it did not appear to have hit the ground, as I saw it come apart and burn up well above the horizon.

Also, based on the amount of light it generated and the fact that it was visible to me in Cent. IL as it burned out over Wisconsin, it had to be much larger that a volleyball.

Just my laymen's opinion.

[tornado]

some experts have said it was not a meteor but a piece of space junk re-entering

[BuBraves55]

i thought we were supposed to be tracking these things so they dont scare the living piss out of people like that...
oh well

[Dallas Brave]

Mount 3 recuiters, go forth travelling from the east, and ye shall find JW in a swaddling Bradley jersey.

[Future Walk-On]

I wish I saw it. What is space junk??

[tornado]

Now people are coming forward claiming they have found pieces of the meteor ...

BUT -- early analysis of the fragment says it is a rocky fragment, likely a remnant of the asteroid belt, and not metallic like most larger meteorites..
Here are some pics..

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/article_d1877c36-4997-11df-a968-001cc4c03286.html

thus if this is truly a fragment, then it is an isolated event and NOT part of any meteor shower..


Here's one story that says this of meteorites..
"Some of those materials can give scientists clues to the origins of life"

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100417/NEWS01/4170318/1002/NEWS01

but is this true...since no evidence of life other than on earth has ever been found...regardless of what some claim!