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Blazing green fireball in the sky caught on police dash cam

A bright green fireball lit up the US Midwest, generating plenty of eyewitness reports and dramatic camera footage.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
2 min read
Watch this: Blazing green fireball lights up the Midwest sky

Police car dash cameras are used to monitor situations when an officer pulls over a vehicle, but an officer in Illinois used one to capture an outstanding look at a massive green fireball cutting through the night sky early on Monday morning.

The American Meteor Society collected over 200 eyewitness reports of the event from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Canada. The bulk of the reports came from Illinois and Wisconsin.

Witness Heidi B described the view: "Reminded me of a northern light in color and vibrancy but acted like a meteor." Some reports mention a very loud booming sound. Drew N writes, "It was pretty huge. Reminded me of the asteroid that fell through the atmosphere in Russia that was all over the internet." That meteor event occurred in 2013 and created a damaging shock wave.

The dash-cam footage of the meteor comes from the Lisle Police Department. The video quality isn't great, but you can clearly see the streak of light entering from the top of the screen. It quickly expands into an impressive green explosion.

A camera located at the University of Wisconsin got a different view of the meteor. It comes into view at a sharp angle before lighting up the sky in blinding fashion.

The American Meteor Society estimates the meteor's trajectory likely took it into Lake Michigan. That means any possible debris from the landing would have ended up under the water.

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