What Was That Green Fireball That Flew Across the Michigan Sky?

Social media lit up (no pun intended) Sunday night as a green fireball flew across the Michigan Sky. The meteor was visible as far away as Toronto and New York State.

Meteor's Path Across Michigan

In a Facebook post Monday, Meteorologist Ahmad Bajjey says that the meteor's visibility began along a line between Saginaw and Shiawassee Counties with a downward trajectory toward the west. He estimates that its visible end was on the western edge of Ionia County and believes the impact point may have been along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Ottawa County.

Ring Doorbell Videos Capture the Fireball

Numerous posts on Facebook and other social media platforms showed the image of a green object that appeared to flash in the sky and fade out.

Take a look at this video which was captured by a Ring Doorbell Camera. In the first few seconds of the black-and-white video, you'll see the object appear in the upper right corner of the screen and then seemingly fade out before falling to the earth.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) tells Newsweek that there were 197 reports from people who spotted the object just before 9 pm Sunday (2/19). The AMS says reports were received from as far away as Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Toronto.

Chris Vickers from Toledo's WTOL-TV shared this video from a viewer in Perrysburg, Ohio who also caught the image on a Ring Doorbell Camera video.

Meteors - More Common Than You May Think

According to Newsweek, NASA estimates that about 48.5 tons of meteoritic material falls to Earth daily. Only the larger meteors and those that fall at night are actually visible.