Fire in the Sky
Jason Doty of south Fargo caught this video the fireball on his doorbell camera at 11:20 p.m.
A fireball is a larger than average meteor, a rock in space that hits the atmosphere at high speed causing it to burn up.
Thousands of fireballs occur every day around the globe, but most are not seen because they are usually over the ocean.
(See video here)
A vibrant meteor lit up the sky from North Dakota to Wisconsin overnight, and Michael Stanga captured it on video around 2:30 a.m. as he looked to the northwest from Otsego, Minnesota.
Meteor/Meteorite shining bright at 2:33AM over Otsego, MN! #mnwx @cityofotsegomn @NWSTwinCities @KSTP @JYuhasKSTP @FOX9 @Sarah_Danik @kare11 @svensundgaard @WCCO @MikeAugustyniak @StarTribune @bringmethenews @NorthWright2Day pic.twitter.com/TpfhwjsjyA
— Michael Stanga (@RealMStanga) April 16, 2019
Comment: Two nights earlier in the same region: Meteor fireball lights up the sky in the upper Midwest
The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 45 reports of the event.
The meteor created a smoke trail as it burned across the sky; Tisha Rowley shot this picture of the smoke. The meteor generated a sonic boom as it burned entering Earth's atmosphere; the boom was heard across much of our area.
If you heard a low rumble or something that sounded like "thunder" in the distance between 5:20-5:25pm: you heard the meteor.
Comment: A daytime meteor was also seen earlier that day over Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
"It was a very loud boom," Dianne Williams said.
Williams was alarmed to hear such a loud noise, followed by shaking. She said it was scary for her dogs too.
"I heard bang, bang, in the laundry room, so I opened the door where we keep our pots and pans and they were on the floor!" Williams said.
But she wasn't the only person along the road to hear the noise and feel the movement in the ground.
Was the fiery streak a meteor? A satellite?
A doorbell camera from a Rhodes Ranch home caught a streak of light flying across the sky Tuesday morning just after 4 a.m.
Southwest resident Shannon Graham said, "Amazing. I haven't seen anything like that. It's pretty cool to see that."
Shannon Graham lives in the area. Graham says the video of the mysterious streak brings back memories as a child looking up at the sky during meteor showers.
"They are not as uncommon as you think. I remember growing up. We would go outside and put lawn chairs out and watch the meteor showers", she says.
Also that evening there have been 53 reports to the American Meteor Society (AMS) of a fireball sighted from the US, so there may be another sighting and more footage to come.
If you would like to report a sighting, you can do so with the AMS here.
Comment: The uptick in fireball sightings continues apace:
- Very bright meteor fireball fragments over Krasnoyarsk, Russia - Third such event in four months (7th April 2019)
- Meteor fireball over New Mexico (5th April 2019)
- Hundreds report daytime meteor fireball over Southeast US (4th April 2019)
- Meteor fireball recorded over Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, Brazil (4th April 2019)
- Streaking meteor fireball caught on dash-cam over Wisconsin (3rd April 2019)
- Large green meteor fireball captured blazing through Florida night sky 31st March 2019)
- Green meteor fireball captured by amateur photographer over Tasmania (29th March 2019
- Meteor fireball seen in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania (28th March 2010)
- Bright meteor fireball observed over Santa Catarina, Brazil (25th March 2019)

Busy receiving space wanderes, this time a bolide is seen in sky over Krasnoyarsk.
The phenomenon caused fear on the ground.
'I panicked as it sounded and looked like a plane on fire, I got really scared of the noise and shine it created', said a local woman from Krasnoyarsk, the large industrial city.
'I pulled a phone out of a pocket, but it flew across the sky so fast that I only caught a long white trace it left.'
Some residents said the meteor was blindingly bright, akin to the light and sparks created during intense welding work.
It split into several parts before disappearing in the sky somewhere over Irkutsk region, east of Krasnoyarsk.
The local ministry of emergencies confirmed it registered a meteor, and said that it didn't pose a threat to people or infrastructure.
It is the third major meteor or meteorite event in four months.
Have you seen a bright fireball? Report it to the American Meteor Society (AMS).
Here's Mike's report to the AMS.












Comment: Two nights later another: Meteor fireball streaks through Minnesota's night sky