Event: 20181109-003800


At 6:38 PM Central Standard Time (2018 November 9 00:38 UTC), a fireball was observed by numerous eyewitnesses in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. An analysis of their reports indicates that the meteor was first sighted some 52 miles above the southern end of Lake Michigan, moving almost exactly due west at 60,000 miles per hour. It ablated 31 miles above the Chicago suburb of Wheaton. The NASA all sky meteor cameras in Ohio were clouded out, but a video of the event has surfaced on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRdOhgV_R0. This meteor was not a member of the currently active Taurid shower - it was coming from the wrong direction.


Event Data

Event ID 20181109-003800
Date (UTC) Nov. 9, 2018
Time (UTC) 00:38:00
AMS Event 4757-2018
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon +41.894, -87.219
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon +41.897, -88.062
Chicken Little Altitude 83.5 km → 50.0 km ( 51.9 miles→ 31.0 miles)
Chicken Little Speed 26.7 km/s (59,700 mph)