Hundreds of eyewitnesses in the midwestern states (IA, MN, KS, MO, MI, WI, IL, IN, NE, OH) reported seeing a relatively rare Earth grazing fireball at 8:40 PM Central Daylight Time (2018 July 9 1:40 UTC). An analysis of their accounts combined with data from a video link posted to the American Meteor Society website indicates that the meteor was first seen some 61 miles above the small town of Rippey, just northwest of Des Moines. Traveling southeast at 87,000 miles per hour, the object traversed some 170 miles through the atmosphere before finally ablating 46 miles above Burlington, near the Iowa/Illinois border. The speed, end altitude, and entry angle (a very shallow 5 degrees) were such that there is no chance that this meteor produced meteorites, even though it garnered a fair amount of attention from the public.
| Event ID | 20180709-014030 |
| Date (UTC) | July 9, 2018 |
| Time (UTC) | 01:40:30 |
| AMS Event | 2307-2018 |
| Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon | +41.998, -92.635 |
| Chicken Little End Lat/Lon | +41.361, -91.198 |
| Chicken Little Altitude | 101.3 km → 84.2 km ( 62.9 miles→ 52.3 miles) |
| Chicken Little Speed | 20.2 km/s (45,200 mph) |