An Illinois police officer's dash cam captured an insane (though extremely brief) scene in the early hours of Monday morning, when it happened to pass by at the exact moment that a flaming blue meteor streaked across the sky before presumably crashing into Lake Michigan. Over 140 miles away, that same meteor was captured by a camera on top of the University of Wisconsin's Atmospheric, Oceanic & Space Sciences Building:
In addition to being captured on video, more than 200 witnesses from Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan have come forth to report the meteor, according to The American Meteor Society. Mike Hankey, who works with the AMS, said that the meteor created a sonic blast that shook nearby houses, likely scaring the living shit out of the occupants inside (he didn't say that last part, but still).
The shooting star was estimated to be roughly as big as a car and weigh more than 600 pounds. According to Hankey, pieces of it "most definitely" created an impact in the lake. "The cloud of debris was picked up on NOAA's NEXRAD Doppler Weather Radar, so this is a definitive source that rocks made it all the way down," he said, according to Popular Mechanics. "Reports of sonic booms also suggest it survived passage through the upper atmosphere."
According to Hankey, judging by the shadows that were present in the above footage, the meteor "rivaled the brightness of the sun."
While Monday morning's event was a rare occurrence due to the rock's immense size and brightness, don't think for a second that one of these things can't come through your roof and crush your skull at any moment. According to the AMS, there are thousands of fireballs that enter the earth's atmosphere daily. Most of them avoid detection because they're in remote areas or happen while the world sleeps.
Boaters on Lake Michigan last night, you dodged a bullet.
