Big 'flash' seen in the skies over part of Michigan and beyond

[James48]

Source: Lansing State Journal


LANSING - Police dispatch lines were lighting up with reports of a big flash in the sky on Tuesday night, evidence of an apparent fireball seen over parts of lower Michigan and as far away as Chicago and Windsor.

Lansing-area dispatchers were fielding calls about the phenomenon around 8:20 p.m., and the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids also received calls.

Twitter was jumping with reports about the flash on Tuesday night.

"What is being described as a 'meteor re-entry' caused a large flash of light and loud noise heard across Michigan, Chicago and Windsor," read a tweet from Michigan Bests.




Read more: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2018/01/16/big-flash-seen-skies-over-part-michigan-and-beyond/1038927001/

[truthisfreedom]

1. Loving it!

[PoliticAverse]

2. Youtube video of the flash...

[pangaia]

5. Cool !!!

[LeftInTX]

6. Wow!!! Lit up the sky!

[Fred Sanders]

3. Love those camera cams. Insurance companies should pay for them installed.

[catbyte]

4. Holy crap! I'm in Lansing & I THOUGHT I saw something streaking by the window.

It was so fast & silent I didn't think much of it.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

23. In Wixom. See post 22.

[catbyte]

32. I was listening to music with headphones, so I think that's why I didn't hear it.

[Orange Free State]

7. Could you imagine if

Something like that coincided with a fake missile warning? Crap yer pants time.

[Irish_Dem]

12. I was thinking the same thing.

Americans are going to start having heart attacks from the stress of living
with this idiot in the WH.

[Archae]

17. Or like that one that blew up over Siberia a couple years ago...

Caused some damage and injuries.

Not to mention the Tunguska blast also.

[briv1016]

8. Re-entry? But it didn't originate from Earth, so wouldn't it just be an entry?

[PoliticAverse]

10. I think you are right semantic observer. n/t

[briv1016]

11. Thank You

[OnyxSharpie]

13. Maybe it did originate from Earth and someone who knows too much slipped up...

[PoliticAverse]

16. Agent Mulder is that you? n/t

[SharonAnn]

9. I saw one of these in 2000 in SW Ohio while driving home at night.

It was pretty spectacular.

[mchill]

14. I happen to see the Great Daylight Fireball of 1972

Visiting my Aunt in Calgary. We decided to just go lay in the sun in the back yard and this blue fireball crossed over above us going north into the hills. It was a sight to see in the middle of the day. Blue in color - BIG. Back then, no internet and I don't remember hearing about what it was, but being young, that wasn't something I would probably follow up on. Years later I looked it up and it has a Wikipedia entry and some people filmed it when in United States...was observed from Utah to northern Alberta.

"The Fireball of 1972 was actually of asteroid class. Approx. 1 miles in diameter. North America would have been in nuclear winter, had it impacted. This was a near miss. Also known as the Rocky mountain meteor of 1972. Believe nothing, verify everything, as Gurdjieff said. It was NOT 45 feet in diameter, but much larger. The photo doesn't lie. Previous calculations are far from accurate. This was a continent killer. As well, likely a government coverup. I was nearly directly under the point of perigee in Idaho. At this close range it was huge in the sky. Look at the photo in this video. Do you REALLY believe you could see an only 45ft. diameter object at 125 miles range? One cannot even see the body of an airliner straight up at 30,000 ft. That it was only 45 ft in diameter is a farce. My data at Wikipedia on this has been censored, including link to this video."

[Delphinus]

34. Thank you for posting this.

Really appreciate the insights.

[hunter]

15. Why do people call the police?

What are the police going to do about it?



Leave the lines open for anyone who may have been hit by rocks falling out of the sky.

[pansypoo53219]

18. i saw a smaller on in north WI years ago while trolling. it bounced.

[jimlup]

19. Darn! I missed it

Apparently I didn't look up at the right time.

A friend of mine confessed that she and her husband both thought something stupid Trump had done was behind it ... for the first few seconds.

[titaniumsalute]

20. By the way though

No one heard a noise. Or if they did it would have been a LONGGG time after they saw a flash. The distance is so great (we are talking like 40 miles up at least) it would have taken probably several minutes for any sound to have traveled the distance.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

22. I heard a noise, so did my wife...

We were sitting in the living room and saw the flash thru the window. At the same time we heard a kinda rumble almost like a truck passing by but trucks that big are not allowed on our street. Thinking someone or something was on the deck outside I went to see if anything was happening outside. Of course there was nothing to be seen.
Seconds later our daughter texted about the meteor. Her family saw and heard it also. Our neighbors witnessed the same.
I live in Wixom, my daughter lives near South Lyon.

Flash and sound were simultaneously seen and heard.

[llmart]

24. WTF???

I live north of Detroit and I heard a huge noise! Thought it was thunder then dismissed that since it was about 15o out. Then thought the snow removal company for our neighborhood was by my house dropping their plow blades, but dismissed that because they had already been here earlier in the afternoon.

My daughter in the next county over texted me saying "Did you hear that?" So, you couldn't be more wrong.

[titaniumsalute]

29. Well we need to figure this out then...

A meteor that travels at and fully breaks up is about 40 miles to 60 miles up in the atmosphere. Much below that there's a good chance it doesn't break up which means at least pieces of it might land.

If a meteor traveling at about 20 miles per second (pretty damn fast) flies over your house and breaks up at 40 miles up it could not be instantly heard. Why? The from a meteor would be a sonic boom pressure wave. Sound travels at about 760 MPH. That's 12.66 miles per minute. If the meteor was 40 miles in the atmosphere then the sound pressure waves (sonic boom) would have taken 3 minutes and 10 seconds to reach earth.

Upon updated reporting today however it appears that the meteor became a meteorite and did indeed land in pieces in northeast Detroit area. There haven't been any reports. So therefore the meteor was low enough in the sky when it finally broke up that the sound would have been within a few moment of the visual near where it landed.

[llmart]

33. Our local news said it landed near Mt. Clemens...

quite a distance away from me and my daughter and all the others who have reported hearing a loud boom, so no, it was heard throughout the tri-county area of Detroit.

[wobblie]

21. cause a 2 magnitude earthquake on impact

People heard it. My wife and I saw the light and heard what we thought was thunder

http://www.mlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2018/01/michigans_meteor_may_have_prod.html

[titaniumsalute]

30. It actually wasn't an earthquake from landing

If a meteor is close to the earth when it dissipates or breaks up the pressure wave (sonic boom) hitting the earth simulates an earthquake on a Richter scale. It may never even hit earth but can produces shockwaves like it did.

[csziggy]

25. Those on this thread who saw the meteor should report it

The American Meteor Society, Ltd. collects reports so the full extent of the event can be recorded:
https://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo/report_intro

[irisblue]

26. #PureMichigan come for the WinterWonderLand, Stay for the Sky Show

[lagomorph777]

27. Meteors don't "re-enter"

They only enter once. Sometimes they skip like stones. But once they enter, they're entered. "Re-entry" would imply a meteor left the Earth and decided to come back. Perhaps not impossible (e.g. an ancient impact could've dislodged a chunk that eventually returns a billion years later), but that would be incredibly rare.

[elmac]

28. I live in the area

and I missed it, darn.

[snooper2]

31. I wonder why peoples first reaction is to call the cops- I saw a flash in the sky!

Are you hurt? no-

Did anything hit the ground? no-

Is your family hurt? no-

Was it close to your neighborhood? no-

why are you calling me again