A green-tinted burst was reported by amateur astronomers in LaPorte, Ind., just after 8 p.m.., said Adler Planetarium Astronomer Chris Lintott.
The shooting star, which was a meteor probably about the size of 10 grains of salt, likely won’t hit the ground and won’t become a meteorite, he said. Meteoroids are pieces of material traveling through space that become meteors when they streak through the Earth’s atmosphere and meteorites if they strike the ground.
At least two motorists on Chicago-area expressways also reported seeing the flash.
It’s “Good luck for those who saw it,” Lintott said. “And very beautiful.”
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com
This latest report comes within a very busy fortnight for Meteorite sightings and hits.
NewsOn6.com
Jan 14, 2011 10:30 PM
LEFLORE COUNTY, Oklahoma -- A NASA scientist says the fireball that lit up the Oklahoma sky Tuesday night was in fact a meteor. He also says it was bigger than previously thought.1/14/2011: Related story: Meteor Streaks Across Southeastern Oklahoma Sky Late Tuesday
Bill Cooke is an astronomer with the Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama who writes a blog on the center's home page.
In an entry Friday afternoon, Cooke says he used information gathered by the Elginfield Infrasound Array (ELFO) in Canada to track the meteor's path and to estimate its key characteristics. The array records very low frequency sound waves in order to track meteors.
Cooke says based on the information gathered by ELFO, the meteor was 21 inches in diameter and weighed 376 pounds.
Cooke believes the meteor was traveling more than 33,000 miles per hour.
So far he hasn't found video of the actual meteor, but has told other web sites he believes the meteor exploded with a force of 40 to 80 tons of TNT. He says the evidence suggests a large "fall zone" for debris in the area of Jackson, Mississippi.
Great blog for keeping up to date in realtime: http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/
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