Residents in Indiana reported hearing a loud boom this week, which experts believe was from a meteor exploding.
On Wednesday, people detected the sound in multiple Indiana counties.
Newsweek said that the Indiana residents heard the explosion on March 30, around 12:44 p.m., citing Cordry-Sweetwater Volunteer Fire Department & Ambulance Corps. Experts had discovered no source or cause at the time.
Meanwhile, the Brown County Indiana Emergency Management Facebook page said many agencies in numerous counties are looking for the source.
Meteor Shocks Indiana Residents
Residents in Bloomington, Indiana, and nearby counties were physically jolted awake by the sound of a huge explosion just before 1:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
Locals instantly rushed to social media in quest of explanations, but discovered that the cause of the bustle was a little more unusual than their typical small-town ruckus - a meteor had just erupted over their heads.
What did they find out? The sound was from a stray fireball that exploded. Mike Hankey of the American Meteor Society said in a WRTV report that the meteor is "brighter than Venus," while a bolide is a "light released from an exploding meteoroid and asteroid in the sky."
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AMS received twelve reports, covering over a hundred miles and describing stories of a fireball's drop and trajectory as it moved northward across Northern Kentucky into Indianapolis.
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The non-profit scientific organization encourages astronomy study and maintains track of reports of bright meteors in the sky known as fireballs. According to the American Meteor Society, the event number for Wednesday's observations was 2127-2022.
These accidental sightings eventually helped to unravel the riddle of the "boom" above Indiana, which turned out to be a "fireball," also known as a bolide, which is a brilliant meteor traveling through Earth's atmosphere from space (and burning up along the way).
At 12:18 p.m., a Bloomington man witnessed a flash of white light before hearing a "thundering sound" that he characterized as a cannon discharging.
At 12:20 p.m., a guy in Columbus stated he heard the sound. It lasted 3.5 seconds, according to him, and was accompanied by two bright yellow light trails.
Many people who heard the loud sound in Kentucky said the sound lasted between 2 and 3.5 seconds. Both claimed to have seen green light trails. "It was awesome," the man in Mays Lick commented in his report (via The Herald Times).
The Cordy-Sweetwater Volunteer Fire Department shared a video of the noise on Facebook, which the facility's CCTV footage recorded around 12:44 p.m.
Fireball Sightings Common, Experts Say
Space.com said fireball sightings aren't rare, and this one looks a lot like the meteor that was seen above Chelyabinsk in 2013. Many people heard a loud "boom" when the meteor exploded as it collided with denser portions of Earth's atmosphere, known as an "air burst."
Still, if it occurs again, people are urged to be extra vigilant and keep their eyes gazing upward on clear days to see the same occurrence.
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