A meteor that streaked across the Great Lakes region Monday night was first spotted in central Michigan, NASA announced.
“A fireball was observed by witnesses in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and the Canadian province of Ontario on the night of March 23,” NASA posted on its NASASpaceAlerts account on X. “The meteor was first detected over the Michigan town of Hope.”
The agency said the meteor traveled northeast at around 29,000 mph. It disintegrated about 23 miles above Saginaw Bay, just east of Whites Beach in Arenac County.
The first fireball was seen over Michigan at about 9:52 p.m., Michigan Storm Chasers said on its Facebook page and on X. The company, which chases storms and tracks the weather, also shared video of the shooting star captured by its network of weather- and sky-watching cameras.
NASA said that, at its peak, the fireball was 40 times brighter than the planet Venus.
The meteor was 4 inches in diameter and weighed about a pound, according to NASA. It was initially part of an asteroid.
According to NASA, pieces can break off an asteroid during collisions to become smaller “meteoroids.” If one of those enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up, it produces the streak of light known as a meteor.
A nonprofit scientific organization that observes and reports on meteoric astronomical events also said its members saw and took video of the shooting star.
Michigan Storm Chasers said in the posts that the shooting star moved primarily from southeast to northwest in the sky.
The second meteor was seen earlier, at 9:31 p.m. and moved south to north towards central Michigan, the company said in a post.
NASA said the earlier meteor was fainter and there is not enough data to evaluate its size, direction and other aspects.
The American Meteor Society in the State of New York said members in Michigan also reported seeing the meteor.
This isn’t the first time reports of meteors have created a buzz around the U.S.
On Monday, a meteor weighing about a ton blazed through the sky over Houston.
Last week, a meteor exploded north of Cleveland over Lake Erie.
In December, a meteor was spotted in the sky over northern Michigan.
cramirez@detroitnews.com
@CharlesERamirez
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Meteor was first seen in Michigan, disintegrated over Saginaw Bay: NASA
Reporting by Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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