Western Michigan. As families got ready for bed late Thursday night, streaks of light lit up the skies over Kent and Ottawa counties. The mysterious scene was accompanied by a loud bang that lasted more than a minute and shook the ground.
Mysterious sky lights and the “boom” rocks of western Michigan
Hundreds of people across western Michigan took to social media afterward to express their shock and confusion at what they had just gone through.
Katie Shumaker, in Kentwood, described her experience saying she was “watching TV inside and heard a loud, deep sound outside that went on for a long time”.
“It sounded like rolling thunder, but louder and more frequent.”
Several people have described a similar sound, which happened sometime around 10:30pm on a Thursday.
“It was like I was right next to the train tracks when it crossed, bumped, or almost like a plane was flying overhead,” Angelica Ward, who also lives in Kentwood, described to FOX 17.
“It was just crazy. Like, I’m surprised the kids didn’t wake up. That’s how loud it is in my house.”
It wasn’t just the noise that caught their attention, but something strange was spreading across the sky.
“I turn around, or look to my right, and the sky lights up orange,” Kelly Stafford, who lives in Jamestown, said Friday.
“And then, it was like orange pops.”
Ron Earle in Wyoming captured a video of something sparkling in the sky at the same time he heard the creaking noise.
Many people online have seen Earl’s video of this object, and a video taken by Angelica Ward where you can hear the grinding noise. They described experiencing very similar sights and sounds.
Some on social media have speculated that this could be related to the annual Perseid meteor display that will be visible this weekend.
FOX 17’s Robert Lunsford spoke with the American Meteor Society on Friday to get what happened.
“The Perseids don’t make any sound because they evaporate completely before descending into the lower atmosphere, where air molecules are dense enough to carry sound waves,” Lunsford explained.
“So, I don’t know what they’re hearing, but it’s not a Perseid meteor.”
Some meteors create a sound that you can hear when they pass through the atmosphere.
“You can hear meteors if they’re made of stone, and they come from asteroids. Those tend to go slower than the Perseids, make it go down further into the atmosphere, and they can actually produce sonic booms,” Lunsford said.
FOX 17 showed the videos taken Thursday night of a meteor expert.
He said, based on his long experience in the world of analyzing astronomical events, that he does not believe that the videos really show a meteor, and he does not believe that the sound we hear in the video is an acoustic explosion.
It’s possible that western Michigan was hit by a meteor entering the atmosphere, but Lunsford doesn’t think that’s what was captured in the videos.
Regardless, there will be incredible conditions this weekend to see the Perseid meteor shower.
Although they should be visible most of the weekend, the ideal time would probably be late Saturday into Sunday morning.
The best time to view these meteors is from midnight to dawn absolute The best time is that first hour around 4:00 a.m., when you’re high in the sky, and you can see meteors shooting off in all directions,” Lunsford said.
It is suggested to travel to a place away from the city lights.
The more stars you can see in the sky, the more meteors you can see.
“The colors on them are often bright as well… Most of the Lepidoptera are orange to yellow. Sometimes, you’ll get some really weird colors, like purple or blue,” explained Lunsford.
“So, there is something to look forward to.”
For more information about the Perseid meteor shower show, you can Visit the American Meteorological Society’s website here.
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