Overview
- The Michigan fireball, which NASA said was first detected 42 miles above Hope on Monday night, burned up over Saginaw Bay after racing northeast at about 29,000 mph and flaring roughly 40 times brighter than Venus.
- In the West, a green fireball tracked by NASA on Sunday traveled about 58 miles from over Chowchilla before breaking up around 29 miles above Colfax, drawing 300+ AMS reports and, per NASA, showing a different origin than other recent events.
- NASA’s analysis of the Houston bolide on Saturday put the breakup near 29 miles above Bammel with energy equal to about 26 tons of TNT, radar indicating falling debris, and a Spring resident reporting a hole in her roof with a suspected meteorite.
- The American Meteor Society logged more than 100 reports for the Midwest event and over 300 for California, and a separate dashcam in Washington captured a bright green streak before dawn on Monday.
- Experts note spring is “fireball season” with rates rising around the equinox, yet most meteors disintegrate high in the atmosphere and confirmed U.S. meteorite finds average about nine per year, according to the Meteoritical Society.