© MATTHEW SPARBY
The fireball was reported above Cambridge, in Isanti County, about 2:10 a.m.
One of the biggest meteors seen worldwide this year streaked over the north metro early Thursday, giving the night sky a light show and rattling homes with a sonic boom.
The refrigerator-sized fireball entered the stratosphere above Cambridge, Minn., in Isanti County about 2:10 a.m. and illuminated the sky with brilliant hues of blues and greens as it burned its way eastward before going dark over Harris in southern Chisago County, said Pat Branch, an observer and meteorite hunter with the
American Meteor Society, which collects reports from all over the world.
It wasn't immediately clear how close the meteor came to Earth impact, but it probably was close enough to drop pea- to grape-size rocks with charred, crusted or chipped edges, Branch said. The drop zone between Harris and North Branch would be about 2 miles long and a half-mile wide, he said.
The meteor was only the second of 2018 to get close enough to Earth to drop fragments, Branch said. "It's very unusual," he said. "This is one of our biggest events of the year."
Comment: More footage of the event:
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