‘Meteorite’ just some space dust
Astronomers have classified what looked to be a small meteorite late Wednesday night as an extremely small and bright “shooting star.”
Adler Planetarium Astronomer Chris Lintott said the shooting star prompted sighting reports from the Chicago area to Indiana and the East Coast, but added the green-and-blue-tinted-burst was simply small space particles that burned up as it entered the Earth atmosphere.
“It really was a spectacular sight, though,” he said. “It truly was glorious in its death.”
He said the size of the space particle was equal to five or ten grains of sand, and burned up in the upper atmosphere.
“It takes an awful lot for something that size to reach the ground,” he said. “But, we enjoyed it and now it’s gone forever.”
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