01/29/2018 – Ephemeris – Michigan fireball

Ephemeris for Monday, January 29th. The Sun will rise at 8:05. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 5:47. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 7:13 tomorrow morning.

The meteoroid that exploded over southern Michigan nearly two weeks ago was seen by many people, mostly in the southeastern Michigan though some reports were from around here. The explosion, high in the atmosphere registered 2.0 on an earthquake recording seismograph in Ann Arbor. That was just from the pressure wave. Pieces of meteorites from it have been found laying on the snow. It appears to have been a normal stony meteoroid. The strewn field where the meteorites have been found is in Hamburg township, southwest of Brighton. The meteoroid came in at 28,000 miles per hour (45,000 kph), a lot slower than a Perseid meteoroid. Rule of thumb for the nomenclature of these things: meteoroid, before; meteor, the light in the sky, meteorite, what’s left that hits the ground.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see it.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

A map of the location of observers of the fireball. Map credit Google & American Meteor Society.

A piece of the meteorite found in the strewn field southwest of Brighton, MI. It appears to be a low iron chondrite, a common rocky meteorite. Credit Mike Hankey / American Meteor Society.

Here’s a Sky and Telescope post about the event: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/michigan-fireball/