Wednesday morning at 12:43 a.m., a fireball soared across West Michigan's night sky.
According to the American Meteors Society, a fireball is an unusually bright meteor that reaches a magnitude of -4 or brighter. That is equivalent to the brightness of Venus and is why it is often visible across a broad viewing area.
In this case, 81 witnesses reported this light flying across the sky. It moved from the SE to the NW over Michigan.
This is nothing to fear, as fireballs are usually not large enough to survive passage through the Earth's atmosphere. However, it is possible for small fragments to fall to the ground. In fact, fireballs are fairly common, with several thousand meteors of fireballs occurring each day. Typically this happens over oceans or during the day.
It is rare, though, to have one sighted by so many people right here in Michigan.
To report a fireball sighting, click on the Internationals Meteor Organization's Report a Fireball website.
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