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BBC MUNDO RADIO
Updated: 2 hours 39 minutes ago
(April 15) -- Video taken by an Iowa sheriff's cruiser shows it clearly: A fireball believed to have been a large meteor streaked across the Midwestern sky, prompting hundreds of calls to the National Weather Service from stargazers in at least four states.
Images captured by a webcam at the University of Wisconsin at Madison show what appears to be a meteor illuminating the northern sky and shooting eastward around 10 p.m. CDT Wednesday.
There has been no official determination of what caused the fireball. In a statement on its Web site, the weather service said "a fireball or very bright meteor was observed streaking across the sky" in Northern Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Southern Wisconsin.
"Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight," the statement said. "Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received ... along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes."
The agency said it was unknown whether any portion of the meteorite hit the ground. Hundreds of calls were logged by the agency and local media about the fireball.
In an e-mail to the Chicago Tribune, Christine McNorris of Woodstock, Ill., said she saw an "enormous ball of light entering [the] atmosphere in the northwestern sky, fading and leaving a trail as it fell towards the horizon."
Other fireball sightings are possible because of the Gamma Virginids meteor shower, which is expected to last through April 21.
Images captured by a webcam at the University of Wisconsin at Madison show what appears to be a meteor illuminating the northern sky and shooting eastward around 10 p.m. CDT Wednesday.
There has been no official determination of what caused the fireball. In a statement on its Web site, the weather service said "a fireball or very bright meteor was observed streaking across the sky" in Northern Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Southern Wisconsin.
"Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight," the statement said. "Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received ... along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes."
The agency said it was unknown whether any portion of the meteorite hit the ground. Hundreds of calls were logged by the agency and local media about the fireball.
In an e-mail to the Chicago Tribune, Christine McNorris of Woodstock, Ill., said she saw an "enormous ball of light entering [the] atmosphere in the northwestern sky, fading and leaving a trail as it fell towards the horizon."
Other fireball sightings are possible because of the Gamma Virginids meteor shower, which is expected to last through April 21.
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