From various sources.
From the NWS in Milwaukee, video links and radar images follow.
MANY REPORTS OF A BRIGHT FIREBALL HAVE BEEN FLOODING COUNTY SHERIFF
DISPATCH CENTERS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF WISCONSIN THROUGH THE NIGHT.
THE FIREBALL WAS VISIBLE BETWEEN 10 PM AND 1015 PM CDT.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICES IN LA CROSSE…DAVENPORT AND DES
MOINES IOWA…AS WELL AS ST LOUIS AND KANSAS CITY MISSOURI HAVE
RECEIVED NUMEROUS REPORTS OF A FIREBALL FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT
OFFICIALS AND THE PUBLIC AROUND THE SAME TIME AS THE REPORTS IN
OUR COUNTY WARNING AREA.
WHILE NO OFFICIAL DETERMINATION HAS BEEN MADE OF WHAT CAUSED THE
FIREBALL…SPACE DEBRIS…METEOR ETC…THERE IS A METEOR SHOWER
CURRENTLY OCCURRING CALLED THE GAMMA VIRGINIDS. IT BEGAN APRIL 4TH
AND IS EXPECTED TO LAST THROUGH APRIL 21ST…WITH THE PEAK
ACTIVITY APRIL 14TH AND 15TH. A LARGE METEORITE COULD HAVE CAUSED
THE BRILLIANT FIREBALL THAT HAS BEEN REPORTED.
WE WILL PASS ALONG ANY FURTHER INFORMATION THAT BECOMES AVAILABLE.
Webcam video from UW-Madison AOS/SSEC: http://www.aos.wisc.edu/fireball/2010_04_14_fireball_loop_1024x768_long.gif
==================================
Fireball Wednesday Night 4/14
Just after 10 pm CDT Wednesday evening April 14th, a fireball or very bright meteor was observed streaking across the sky. The fireball was seen over the northern sky, moving from west to east. Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight. The fireball was seen across Northern Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Southern Wisconsin. Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received from areas north of Highway 20, along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes. As of late Wednesday evening, it is unknown whether any portion of this meteorite hit the ground.
The fireball was caught on a webcam from UW-Madison AOS/SSEC.
www.aos.wisc.edu/fireball/2010_04_14_fireball_loop_1024x768_long.gif
The fireball was also caught by a Howard County Iowa Sheriff’s Deputy.
http://addins.kwwl.com/blogs/weather/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fireball-web.wmv
This video was provided by KWWL TV.
Also, the Doppler Radar from the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities appeared to capture a portion of the smoke trail from the fireball at 0302z (1002 PM CDT), as seen in the image below. It appears as a thin line extending across portions of Grant and Iowa Counties in Wisconsin. This trail is positioned nearly 88 miles north-northeast of Davenport, Iowa at an elevation of just over 24,000 ft AGL.
click to enlarge
What I see from the GIF is a meteor falling before the smaller flash is seen before the big one is seen. It looks like a cluster of meteors to me. The contrail of the first one I mentioned is seen when the big flash illuminates it. After the contrail is exposed the meteor can still be seen falling after the big flash. The contrail seen on the left might be an aircraft’s or one belonging to an earlier meteor. The video cycle begins with the “falling star” motion off to the right. Even the other “star” to its left seems to move a bit that is positioned at the 11 o’clock edge of the large flash. That is a busy little sequence.
RE: Cyber (09:19:55)
You know, you could easily have said you were smoking, standing around or just passing through the yard, and no one would have known the difference. Just sayin’.
It was a part of my mothership, from whence I project my mighty hologram to Live Earth concerts.
Nothing to see here. Just the sky falling. Move along folks.
I saw one in the late ’50’s, late summer dusk, in an orchard in northwest Iowa. Orange-yellow, apparent size comparable to the full moon, no sound, no trail (too dark?). It was the second best two seconds of my life. 🙂
I have witnessed earthquake lights twice. Believe me…just hold on your seats and pray saint AL Baby.
This animated picture from NOAA should be added above this post:
http://www.aos.wisc.edu/fireball/2010_04_14_fireball_loop_1024x768_long.gif
It’s the electric universe guys rolling on!
CRS, Dr.P.H. (10:19:35) :
I saw it as it came down, it was a stony meteorite about the diameter of a soccer ball. I didn’t see it explode, it was behind some trees. It had a very unusual green tint (copper?)
Sounds a bit like H.G. Wells. And then the end of the cylinder began to unscrew ….
TMI Time (11:27:49)
Eh, we’re all big boys and girls here…
“In ancient times, people knew how to properly handle these events – with human sacrifices”
Thanks for the laugh, SG.
Well I’ve heard of some pretty big cosmetic rays hitting the earth; somewhere up in the 10^19 eV or more; but this one is a humdinger; how did that sneak though Leif’s solar wind shield.
Maybe Thor is just bragging he’s bigger than Gaia.
Unusual not to have a large trail – must have been quite solid. The last one I saw (not this bright) left a trail the equivalent of 10 or 15 Moon diameters.
.
Even 15 seconds seems long, but that would be believable.
The monster (10:40:28)
I have always wondered why meteor crater wasn’t called meteorite crater.
Cyber (09:19:55) :
Sometime around 1980 […] I saw the ground light up like someone had turned a flood light on. I looked up and saw a bright object streaking from east to west and pretty much right over my head. I could [i]hear[/i] it! Then it broke up into several pieces, making a number of booming sounds as it did so. […]
That’s almost exactly what I saw in the fall of 1974 over Stillwater, OK. I was knee deep in astronomy at the university at that time and that night had a small telescope set up our huge backyard on the edge of the town. One of my roommates had wandered out to see what I was up to. I was pointing out some constellations and giving him a brief celestial navigation coarse as this huge fireball went directly overhead, also east to west, slightly to the south. It growled, hissed and popped as it streaked toward the horizon while leaving a distinct redish and green tail of smoke as it went overhead then exploded with a bang into three pieces they continued over the horizon! We both were silent for a moment and turned to each other with our mouth wide open, “Did you see that sucker!?”. Boy, that was an understatement! You will never forget an experience that that, guaranteed.
Cyber, if only the dates matched it could have been the very same fireball. Stillwater is WSW of the Arkansas-Missouri border though it is hard to get the scale of the event. Was it huge and high in the stratosphere seen by multiple states or was it small and low being a rather local event. Never heard a bit of it on the news either. Today it would be plastered on ever news outlet world-wide!
“I saw it as it came down, it was a stony meteorite about the diameter of a soccer ball.”
Damn, now that’s some pretty sharp eyes there. Especially at night.
(the blue-green tint suggests to me that it was a piece of space debris, heavy in copper)
Maybe it was Iceland re-entering the atmosphere.
I live in Britain and nothing nearly so exciting ever happens here.
I did see a hedgehog the other day and that’s about as interesting as it gets…
George E. Smith (12:25:42) :
but this one is a humdinger; how did that sneak though Leif’s solar wind shield.
Maybe Thor is just bragging he’s bigger than Gaia.
Be careful George! Dr.S is a most respectful inquisition friar, can take you to the stake…
Warned ya if you didn’t pay tribute, the earth would burst into flame! 🙂
Best,
Frank
I had a similar experience back in ’84. I was in Cochabamba, Bolivia at dusk, waiting outside for friends to come over to play cops-n-robbers when I saw what looked like a handful of live coals moving across the sky from west to east somewhat lowish in the northern sky but above the mountains.
They didn’t seem to move very fast so I figured they were very far away but they still looked very big with a definite reddish orange tinge (no green or blue or even white). The “coals” were of slightly differing sizes and randomly spaced and didn’t seem to separate or otherwise change much until they disappeared out of sight to my right. I have no idea how long it took for them to cross since time seemed to stand still while I gaped at the sight but it seemed like a very long time, particularly compared to a meteor.
I’ve always wished I had a camera and have wondered what it was that I saw. I’ve even periodically tried to find references online to any big meteor event in that area around that time but have never found anything.
The Army just put out a statement that it was some top-secret experimental ballon connected to some project, Project Mogul I think they said….
What colour is Kryptonite ?
Seeing space debris falling is really impressive — more colorful (as wws noted) and lots of drippy sparks.