Friday, April 16, 2010

Hey cool! I saw a meteor fireball!

On Wednesday night, April 14, 2010, I saw something I had never seen before in my life!  Driving down Minnesota Highway 10 west of Lake Park, MN, about mile marker 30, at 10:08 pm (I especially noted the time), a bright fireball that seemed to flash green and white caught my attention in the southern sky, at about 45 degrees.  Backlighting the clouds, it appeared to be "fuzzy,"   and moving rapidly toward the east. 

My first thought was that it was a large airplane landing, but I knew there was no airport capable of handling a large airplane within 30 miles of my location. The second thought that flashed through my head was that an airplane was crashing.  A moment after the light disappeared into the ground, there was a very bright flash, like a bright lightening strike. It occurred to me that it might be a meteor, yet it wasn't like any meteor event I had ever witnessed. I really wasn't certain what I had just seen, or if I had really seen it.

At 10:10 pm I called my wife to tell her what I had seen. I didn't call it in, thinking that a 911 operator would probably just think I was nuts.

Low and behold, today's local newspaper had a story about it.

http://wcco.com/local/large.meteor.midwestern.2.1636044.html

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/275579/

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