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Giant Fireball Meteor Has Twitter On Fire: Video
Wisconsin residents report hearing a boom, feeling their homes shake and a huge ball of fire in the sky.
The Twitter universe is on fire with pictures of the monstrous meteor that streaked across the Midwest sky before burning out over Lake Michigan early Monday morning. The American Meteor Society said it has received 467 reports so far of the meteor, which was seen in several states but primarily in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Residents of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, New York, Kentucky, Minnesota and Ontario, Canada, also reported seeing the fireball. In Wisconsin, some residents reported hearing a loud boom, then seeing the night sky light up, as it might with a lightning strike.
In Appleton, Wisconsin, Scott and Kathy Meyer said their house shook for a few seconds. They knew it wasn't an earthquake.
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The boom from the meteor “definitely felt like it was coming from up above,” Kathy Meyer told WBAY-TV. Another resident, Dave Baye, said the giant fireball looked like fireworks but told the TV station he could tell it was a “huge ball of fire” that had a tail.
Greenville resident Casey Mall-Pavich lives near a rifle range and an airport, so she’s accustomed to hearing loud noises. “But it was so loud,” she told the TV station, that she checked the family's security camera footage, which revealed something that resembled headlights. She was’t convinced, so she checked Twitter, where she saw other reports of the meteor.
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It’s not unusual for meteors to reach the Earth, he said, “but the big ones are sort of rare,” Bonadure said, estimating it was probably about the size of a basketball.
Below are more social media posts from the unusual sighting.
#Meteor Over #Lake #Michigan Lights Up Sky In Several: https://t.co/c30t1GFqUn, https://t.co/I24KFvgGK7 pic.twitter.com/tMSFc2l8RP
— Science News (@ScienceTopNews) February 7, 2017
Post #Superbowl #Meteor lands near #Frankfort #Michigan in #LakeMichigan Videos: https://t.co/uyIeqaP7Pb pic.twitter.com/wRjROs43a9
— WideWakes (@widewakes_1) February 6, 2017
Footage of the meteor from earlier (Credit: Marcella Canfora). #Wisconsin #Meteor pic.twitter.com/JaCAE0JeQn
— Krazy Phukin' Foo (@KrazyPhukinFoo) February 6, 2017
#Wisconsin, #Illinois Feel Sonic Boom After #Meteor: https://t.co/c30t1GFqUn, https://t.co/ocuFczu5yG pic.twitter.com/0DjuJHrjDK
— Science News (@ScienceTopNews) February 7, 2017
Another great #meteor video from early this AM, this one from #wisconsin . https://t.co/ksuXGAMVWO pic.twitter.com/djszOpclDC
— WeatherBug (@WeatherBug) February 6, 2017
Incredible video from several of our traffic cameras of last night's #meteorite, visible throughout #Wisconsin! #WIWX pic.twitter.com/brAcglLGSB
— 511 Wisconsin (@511WI) February 6, 2017
COOL VIDEO: UWPD Officer Volkmann captures last night's meteor on his dash cam. This is near the @UWWaismanCenter on the @UWMadison campus. pic.twitter.com/K8Tv5hvXtZ
— UW-Madison Police (@UWMadisonPolice) February 6, 2017
Here, from the American Meteor Society, is the estimated trajectory of the meteor.
Screenshot via YouTube
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