Valley sky watchers and anyone who happened to be outside at about 10 o’clock Friday night were treated to a special sight. This is what viewers have reported on the Valley News Live Facebook page:
Kyle Wayne Erickson, “We seen it in Hope, it was at 10:02, we were all sitting on the deck and seen it, it was moving slow, looked like it was literally no more then a couple hundred feet over the trees. Had a HUGE bright colorful tail behind it, that was a once in a lifetime sighting, was the coolest thing I’d ever seen!!”
Jeremy Southwick, “Just saw a fantastic meteorite falling westward over West Fargo! Somebody go find it!”
Alex Wilkowski, “It came and went very slow for a shooting star, I didn’t think many would see it. It was so low.”
Some have also reporting hearing a crackling noise and seeing it break up into pieces.
What you saw Friday night was a fireball, which is a brighter than normal meteor. Reports are coming in from North Dakota, South Dakota, Manitoba, Wisconsin, Michigan. Most shooting stars are the size of specks of dust to pebbles. Based on how bright it was reported to be, experts believe this to be the size of a softball. The larger the object, the brighter as it burns through the Earth’s atmosphere. Fireballs are pretty rare events, so consider yourselves lucky!
If you were even luckier and caught a picture of the event, we’d love to share it. Please go to “Join the Conversation” on our home page. You can download your picture there.
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