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Over 500 reports were sent in to the American Meteor Society website concerning a major fireball event (possibly two) over the U.S. Midwest on December 26th, 2013.


The AMS has received over 460 reports so far about a fireball over the border of Iowa and Minnesota. (Dec. 26th) around 5:35pm central time.

Witnessed described a fireball as bright as the Sun that fragmented into many parts. Several witnesses reported sonic effects associated with the meteors including at least three reports of delayed booms.

Below is an estimated trajectory of the fireball based on witness reports based on two different algorithms. (RA: 205.72714158 / 13:42 - DEC: -2.72008690)
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© AMS
AMS Event #3434-2013 Trajectories
With 620+ witness reports after only 14 hours, this event is already the 5th most reported fireball in the history of the AMS online reporting system.

If you saw this meteor please fill out an official fireball report here.

Here is the current heat map for the event that shows where the witnesses reported from. Click the map below to review the event map and witness reports for this fireball.

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© AMS
AMS Event #3434-2013 -Heat Map
Video #1: Christina Erbe, Communications Specialist, City of North Liberty, Iowa


Video #2: Tim Cline, Sandia Sentinel All-Sky Network

Latitude = 41:05:13.650N - Longitude = 93:15:14.911W


Video #3: Fireball over Kansas, Missouri, caught on Missouri State patrol dashcam near Sedalia, Missouri


Video #4: Fireball recorded while driving through Iowa, USA. Uploaded to YT 27 December 2013 by Andrey Anisimov