At 11:48 PM Eastern Standard Time (2018 Jan 18 04:48 UTC), there was a bright fireball reported by numerous observers in the mid-western states. It was detected by 2 NASA all sky cameras at Hiram and Oberlin Colleges, both in Ohio. An analysis of the data reveals that the meteor was first observed 55 miles above the town of Greenfield, just east of Indianapolis. Moving almost due west at a fast 112,000 miles per hour, the 2” diameter cometary fragment completely ablated 29 miles above the Indianapolis suburb of Clermont. This event did not produce meteorites, and is completely unrelated to yesterday’s fireball over Michigan, which had an asteroidal origin.
Event ID | 20180118-044814 |
Date (UTC) | Jan. 18, 2018 |
Time (UTC) | 04:48:14 |
AMS Event | 206-2018 |
Size | 2 inches |
Origin | Asteroidal |
NASA Camera Start Lat/Lon | +39.776, -85.739 |
NASA Camera End Lat/Lon | +39.820, -86.355 |
NASA Camera Altitude | 89.9 km → 46.5 km ( 55.8 miles→ 28.9 miles) |
NASA Camera Speed | 50.3 km/s (112,500 mph) |
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon | +40.468, -85.562 |
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon | +40.324, -85.707 |
Chicken Little Altitude | 110.1 km → 82.1 km ( 68.4 miles→ 51.0 miles) |
Chicken Little Speed | 17.4 km/s (38,900 mph) |