Sunday Meteor Fireball Was Visible Over 10 US States

If you live in or near the Midwestern United States, you may have noticed a streaking fireball yesterday evening. The blazing line was spotted streaking across the sky by people in ten states, according to witness reports. The brief event was caused by a meteor blasting past a little before sunset, etching a bright line in the dim evening sky.READ: Meteor size of minivan caused booming fireball

The fiery object was noted by the American Meteor Society, which collects witness reports and catalogs them on its website. The organization shared videos of the event from what appears to be security cameras in a rural neighborhood.

The object is spotted at a great distance, appearing relatively small from the vantage point of land.

According to the organization, it received more than 270 reports from witnesses who saw the meteor on Sunday. Of those, the majority were centered in Iowa and Illinois, though reports also came in from as far east as Ohio and as far north as Wisconsin. Experts estimate the meteor had a shallow entry angle, but some witnesses claim they saw the meteor fragment, which means it may have actually punched through the atmosphere.

The fireball was spied at about 8:40PM CDT with the entire event only lasting a few seconds. This is the latest of many space rocks that have been spotted burning up in the night sky this year. Some fireballs are more impressive than others, such as a minivan-sized meteor that appeared over Washington state in March.

According to those reports, people in the area heard a loud booming sound in addition to seeing the bright streak. NASA JPL had confirmed that fireball as a large meteor that burned up, disappearing about 14 miles off the coast. A video of that March meteor can be viewed below:

SOURCE: America Meteor Society