Meteor causes bright explosion in night sky
It was definitely a meteor.
Officials from the National Weather Service in Chicago said the flash of light seen in the sky between 10:15 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday was a meteor that fell to Earth.
Officials said several reports of the meteorite were received encompassing a large geographical area spanning from northern Missouri into Illinois and Wisconsin.
The meteor was observed from webcams and even from certain elevation scans from National Weather Service Doppler Radars in the Quad Cities and Lacrosse.
Officials from the NWS in Quad Cities, Iowa said the very bright meteor was observed streaking across the sky moving from west to east. They said, just before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight.
There were also reports of a prolonged sonic boom received from areas north of Highway 20 in Iowa, along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes.
Officials are still trying to determine if the object hit the ground anywhere. Meteors burn up in the atmosphere. Meteorites are meteors that make it through the atmosphere and strike the earth.
Officials from the NWS said the meteor was from a meteor shower called the Gamma Virginids that began April 4 and is expected to last through April 21. Peak activity for the shower started Wednesday and will continue through today.
The Associated Press reported Central Illinois police switchboards lit up shortly after 10:11 p.m. Wednesday with reports of something on fire streaking through or falling from the sky. Reports also came in from elsewhere in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri, according to WREX-TV of Rockford.
There were no indications of aircraft in trouble, according to officials at Peoria International Airport's control tower. Central Illinois Airport's tower in Bloomington is closed after 10 p.m.
Police initially searched in the LeRoy area after receiving reports of what looked like a road flare on the ground, but they found nothing. The Timberlake Trail area south of Bloomington also was searched but yielded nothing after someone reported a possible impact there.
The National Weather Service in Lincoln said they were unaware of anything unusual in the night sky.
"If it were a plane, we would know about it pretty quickly," said meteorologist Amy Jankowski.
McLean County sheriff's police said calls were received from Cooksville, Hudson, Towanda, LeRoy and Bloomington shortly after 10:11 p.m. Callers said something was falling from the sky, but nobody could identify it.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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<h1>More Coverage</h1>
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<h2>Gallery</h2>
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<li><a href="http://www.aos.wisc.edu/fireball/2010_04_14_fireball_loop_1024x768_long.gif
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<h2>Video</h2>
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<li><a href="http://addins.kwwl.com/blogs/weather/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fireball-web.wmv">Video of the meteor</a></li>
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<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Did you see it</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Did you see the meteor Wednesday night? Do you have photos or video of the event? Let us know what you saw or send us your images to <a href="mailto:webmaster@dailyherald.com?subject=Meteor"><b>webmaster@dailyherald.com</b></a></p>
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