Over two hundred members of the general public in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin observed a bright fireball at 11:45 PM Central Daylight Time (2019 May 11 4:45 UTC). The meteor was also detected in two cameras - located at Hiram and Oberlin Colleges in Ohio - belonging to the NASA fireball network, as well as several other all sky and wide field cameras in the region. An analysis of the data from 5 cameras shows that the object began to ablate 63 miles above the middle of Lake Michigan, traveling east of south at 44,000 miles per hour. It ablated 22 miles above South Bend, Indiana. The orbit and brightness of the fireball suggest that it was a fragment of a Jupiter family comet 6 inches in diameter and weighing approximately 10 pounds.
Event ID | 20190511-044439 |
Date (UTC) | May 11, 2019 |
Time (UTC) | 04:44:39 |
AMS Event | 2070-2019 |
Size | 6 inches |
Origin | Cometary |
NASA Camera Start Lat/Lon | +43.113, -87.318 |
NASA Camera End Lat/Lon | +41.620, -86.401 |
NASA Camera Altitude | 101.3 km → 37.4 km ( 63.0 miles→ 23.2 miles) |
NASA Camera Speed | 19.8 km/s (44,300 mph) |
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon | +42.518, -86.882 |
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon | +41.785, -86.655 |
Chicken Little Altitude | 96.8 km → 59.5 km ( 60.2 miles→ 36.9 miles) |
Chicken Little Speed | 22.1 km/s (49,400 mph) |