A bright, fiery flash of light was spotted in the cloudy skies above Indianapolis early Tuesday morning, treating some Hoosiers to a rare and wondrous celestial sight. Dozens of witnesses described hearing a powerful “explosion” as it left a glowing trail in its wake.
Eyewitnesses from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin reported seeing a fireball blaze at around 4 a.m. Tuesday. A fireball is a meteor that appears much brighter than normal, often larger than the millimeter-sized bits of stone, ice, or metal that can enter Earth’s atmosphere and produce brief streaks of light in the sky.
Dr. Aarran Shaw, director of Holcomb Observatory and teacher at Butler University, said the event could have been a fireball, which occasionally occurs during meteor showers. Video captured on doorbell cameras shows a burning object with intense blue and yellow hues making a “sizzling, pulsing sound,” followed by a roaring “boom.”
Fireballs that explode in the atmosphere are called bolides, which may have been what witnesses saw Tuesday morning. Bolides are special types of fireballs that produce a bright terminal flash at their end, often with visible fragmentation.
Fireball meteors are more common than thought, occurring every day globally, but witnessing one is rare. Over 1,600 bolides have occurred in 2024, and at least 23 in December, according to NASA’s data.
If you spot a fireball meteor, reporting it to the American Meteor Society can help alert scientists about important astronomical events. The organization keeps track of meteor sightings and provides a way for the public to report them online.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/sounded-explosion-boom-light-indiana-210023838.html