Early Tuesday morning (December 10), witnesses across Indiana reported seeing a fireball burning overhead.
Cloudy skies across the state on Tuesday made viewing the streaking inferno difficult, but 47 reports documenting the event have been submitted to the American Meteor Society (AMS) websitecrowdsource and track meteor Events throughout North America. A fireball was tracked heading south west-southeast of Indianapolis around 4:05 a.m. ET (0905 GMT).
“It lights up the sky like it’s daytime,” Andrew B. reports via AMS Report fireball Submit the form. Other eyewitnesses described it similarly, with Di M. saying it was “the brightest short-duration light” they had ever seen.
Cloudy morning skies likely contributed to the intense brightness, as light from the fireball’s already bright flare was dispersed by the clouds, illuminating the city below like a lampshade.
Even though meteors and other debris burn up the Earth, events like this are rare. Earth’s atmosphere Happens often. Fireballs like the one seen on Tuesday are called bolides. They appear in fast, bright streaks across the sky, then burn up in the atmosphere before eventually exploding.
Mike DVB, an Indiana resident, captured the fireball with a camera on his front door. he Post video to YouTubethen to Indiana Reddit subredditmany said they also witnessed the early morning incident.
“This was so cool. I was a little disappointed because it was overcast, but it was a pretty nice view regardless,” Denney wrote on AMS. A slight ” “Thumping sound,” he described in his report to the AMS what he heard. sonic boom. Other AMS submissions confirmed what Denny heard, reporting simultaneous or delayed sounds associated with the fireball’s atmospheric collision.