There was a very bright green fireball seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses surrounding Lake Michigan early this morning at 1:25:13 AM Central Time (February 6, 2017). The reports from these individuals and the video information from dash cameras and other cameras in the region indicate that the meteor originated 62 miles above West Bend, Wisconsin and moved northeast at about 38,000 miles per hour. It disrupted about 21 miles above Lake Michigan, approximately 9 miles east of the town of Newton. The explosive force of this disruption was recorded on an infrasound station in Manitoba, some 600 miles away – these data put the lower limit energy of the event at about 10 tons of TNT, which means we are dealing with a meteoroid – orbit indicates an asteroidal fragment – weighing at least 600 pounds and 2 feet in diameter. Doppler weather radar picked up fragments (meteorites) falling into Lake Michigan near the end point of the trajectory.
Ground track and Doppler radar signature (done by Marc Fries at NASA Johnson Space Center); an animation of the orbit and approach of the meteoroid is being prepared and should be available soon. We will continue to look at data as it comes in and revise the calculations if necessary.
Links to videos of this event:
Lisle, IL Police Department
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF0POBcZQRk
From Highway in Wisconsin:
https://twitter.com/KrazyPhukinFoo/status/828543708299657216
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AozuKJZK_4
Chillicothe IL Police Department:
https://twitter.com/chillipd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Morton Grove Police Squad
https://twitter.com/NWSChicago/status/828532116300394496
Roof of Atmospheric, Oceanic & Space Sciences Building – University of Wisconsin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHubXCtdEbo
EarthCams:
Looking over Lake Michigan, from Michigan Coast: (looking too north to see the meteor itself) http://www.earthcam.com/usa/michigan/grandhaven/lakemichigan/?cam=lakemichigan
Bright flash at 2:25:13
cool