I just got an email from a reader saying a friend of his saw what may have been a spectacular meteor breakup near Columbus, Wisconsin around 7:10 p.m. local time today (Monday, January 15, an hour ago as I write this). Did any BABloggees from that area see anything?
The friend reported seeing several "vertical trails" in the sky, so it sounds like it could have been a meteor exploding and creating several trails.
If you saw something, leave your location, what you saw, and the direction you saw it in the comments!
January 15th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Probably has nothing to do with the Wisconsin meteor, but as I was outside tonight looking at Orion, I saw three meteors flash by moving westward beneath Orion in the space of about 2 minutes. This was around 10 PM EST, which would be around 9 PM in Wisconsin. As I said, probably nothing to do with the earlier one, but three in two minutes at 10 PM is sorta unusual. Could it be that there was a small bit of debris that the earth just happen to move through?
January 15th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Duh, forgot my location. Sarasota, Florida.
January 15th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
I did see something that i thought was a meteor, but am unsure of the direction I was driveing and saw it as i was turning a corner going thru the woods and didnt see it for long but it was bright and did apper to break up as i saw it in flashes
January 15th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
I saw a bright exploding bolide meteor in Wisconsin once, but as that was 5+ years ago, it doesn’t help you much.
Still, it was an awesome sight!
January 16th, 2007 at 3:14 am
I was 15 when I saw my first bolide, and damn near freaked out. It was surreal. I didn’t know what it was until I did some research. Until then it was a UFO.. lol.
Hopefully there’s some greater insight from others on which direction the Wisconsin event took, and at what time of the night. It’s really not likely anything significant, but who knows, maybe something small landed somewhere.
January 16th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
My daughter and I were driving north on Honore Ave. in Sarasota, Fl shortly after 8:00 on Monday, Jan. 15. We both were blown away by the sight of a very big, bright, green and white meteor…I think I saw a few pieces blow off-they were red. My first thought was fireworks, then I realized it had appeared toward the east and streaked down westward. It went behind some clouds, but we could see if for a few seconds lighting up the clouds. Awesome!!!
January 16th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Dang, if I only knew it was coming, I live 15 miles from Columbus.
January 17th, 2007 at 2:19 am
I once saw a meteor (possibly a perseid, a few days after the peak) while driving west across the central valley of northern California. (Yosemite to San Francisco). It descended straight down in front of me and changed color from intense green to bright yellow as it went down. I later realized the green color was due to the tinted windshield!
February 5th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Saw a huge meteorite last night near Madison, WI. Anyone else see it? Large white ball with green and red trails traveling from the center of the sky straight toward the horizon. Looks like it could have hit somewhere…?
February 7th, 2007 at 11:57 am
On Sunday the 4th, at 7:50 p.m. as 3 of us (hockey teammates) were traveling west on 151, in the Beaver Dam area… we saw this flaming ball softly dropping straight down to our north. It must have been pretty big as we could make out the flames around it. It went from orange, to green, then fizzled into a smaller stream. It had to have been pretty huge for us to see it so clearly from the highway. It definitely did come down in the Beaver Dam area. It was an amazing sight… but landed in a farmland area and may be hard to trace?
February 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Cyndie:
Has anyone gone to look for it?
February 8th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I live near Appleton, Wisconsin. A couple of our astro club members and friends spotted a bright meteor. The feedback was that it was bright green and eventually broke up so the sighting is quite real.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Jim,
Do you know if it was sighted east or west of Appleton?
Was it headed North?
I assume that you are talking about the February 4, 2007 event?
Thanks,
Robert
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I saw a huge meteorite last night near Oregon, WI about 8:55 looking west. It came from the south, appeared to arc lower than the brightest star in the west. It was about 4 times bigger that that bright star, had a LONG tail, and was “spitting” flames from the ball. I could see it for a long time, it didn’t look like your average little shooting star. I have never seen one before and it was amazing.
October 5th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Did anyone observe the bolide over West Central Wisconsin (Mondovi, Durand) area on 3 Oct at 1900 z?
October 9th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I SAW ONE TODAY!
AT AROUND 10 PM.
Im from milwuakee WI by the way.
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:02 am
Yesterday…Saturday nov 22nd…Driving down around in Sarasota, Florida, I saw a meteor…or shooting star, or falling star, whatever you would like to call it. I have seen many before, but they are usually higher up…farther away, and disappear quicker…but This one was thicker…i could see a variety of colors in it…..and it appeared very close to the ground…i actually thought it was going to hit at one point. I believe i was looking north. Did anyone else see it? It was still daylight outside, so im guessing the time was a little after 4 pm. I was impressed at how much larger it was then normal and how close it was to the ground.
November 29th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I saw a meteor over hwy 151 on wednesday in the direction of sun prairie, columbus area. it was a fast moving streak of green that lasted only a second or so….
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Joe, I may have seen the same one. I was driving West on I90/94 and I saw a meteor explode and break up over the Dells area. It was difficult to pinpoint the exact location since it was the night sky and tough to get a good perspective.
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I just saw a green streak come down east of oregon wi – saw the same thing last night a bit north/east of Oregon but it happened so quick I did not think anything of it until tonight.
March 6th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Found a meteorite today near Madison WI in town of Sun Prairie. Might of been on my roof for a few months or just in a snow drift. Thought I heard something hit my roof a while back no trees so had to be something that fell. I thought ice but later I found the 3in ball like blackened meteorite. Sitting by my roof gutter on the grass.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Honestly there was just a meteor shower so its not unusual.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:53 am
I saw a meteor while driving South on USH 53 near STH 70 (Spooner area) at approximately 4:12 am the morning of August 8th, 2009. It was in the W-SW quadrant and travelling on a northerly path at approximately 15 degrees from horizon. I could see the bright tail and then a very bright flash which made a circle of light like a halo (assuming where it struck the atmosphere). This circle of bright light lasted a few seconds as the meteor kept traveling – much less visible of course until it went under the horizon. If I had to guess, I’d say it landed anywhere between Grantsburg to Hertel.
The bright flash lit up almost the entire Western sky like a bolt of lightning. I’ve seen many shooting stars but this was the most amazing, by far, I’ve ever seen.