# Meteor just hit here in SE Michigan. Woah. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 17, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791 "2018-01-17T02:09:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/21 "2018-01-17T04:55:07Z")
I wouldn’t look in there. You may be sorry. Anyway they will die of a virus eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/22 "2018-01-17T10:57:59Z")
The wife felt it, I did not. It is blowing up The Facebook, however. > [@asahi](#): > > What did God say after he tried to destroy Detroit? > > “God dammit, I missed!” A clever one, you are. That cherry was, what, about four feet off the ground? mmm ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/23 "2018-01-17T11:37:04Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > A clever one, you are. That cherry was, what, about four feet off the ground? > mmm More like four inches. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/24 "2018-01-17T11:41:54Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The actual meteorites are highly prized by museums. I remember a case in the 1990s in IIRC Pennsylvania where not only was the flash caught on a camcorder, but it struck a young woman’s car, and a museum paid her more than enough to replace that car although I’m assuming her insurance did pay a claim. [Peekskill](http://uregina.ca/~astro/mb_5.html) was bought by three individuals–Ray Meyer, Jim Schwade, Marlin Cilz–[here](http://meteoritecar.com/history/) is a photo of them holding it. [According to the metbase](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=18782), they still own 7.4 kg of the 12.37 kg stone between themselves. The biggest piece in a museum looks to be 470 grams. (At the bottom of the entry, you can see multiple photos of pieces in private collections.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/25 "2018-01-17T12:01:39Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Peekskill](http://uregina.ca/~astro/mb_5.html) was bought by three individuals–Ray Meyer, Jim Schwade, Marlin Cilz–[here](http://meteoritecar.com/history/) is a photo of them holding it. [According to the metbase](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=18782), they still own 7.4 kg of the 12.37 kg stone between themselves. The biggest piece in a museum looks to be 470 grams. (At the bottom of the entry, you can see multiple photos of pieces in private collections.) Now see, my car got hit by a meteor that same night just a couple of miles away. That’s why I’m sure it was a meteor even though I have no other evidence that it happened. The car that was hit by the big meteor was owned by someone I knew. And it was a meteor, it didn’t become a meteorite until it hit my car. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/26 "2018-01-17T13:17:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Now see, my car got hit by a meteor that same night just a couple of miles away. And what is your evidence of that? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/27 "2018-01-17T13:28:21Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > And what is your evidence of that? What else could it have been? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/28 "2018-01-17T13:38:52Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What else could it have been? A rock thrown up by the tire of another car, something falling off a car in front of you, something falling off a tree or power line over you, something dropped by a bird. For example. If there had been multiple pieces of Peekskill recovered, and your hit took place within a minute or two of the hammer fall, I’d conciser it a realistic possibility. But with only one piece found by anyone, anywhere around the fall with people looking for them _and with people knowing that there is money in it_, I find it highly implausible that you were hit by a meteorite. With meteorite falls, there is one piece, or there are lots of pieces. And if there were lots of pieces, some of those extra ones would have been found. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/29 "2018-01-17T13:48:15Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > A rock thrown up by the tire of another car, something falling off a car in front of you, something falling off a tree or power line over you, something dropped by a bird. For example. If there had been multiple pieces of Peekskill recovered, and your hit took place within a minute or two of the hammer fall, I’d conciser it a realistic possibility. But with only one piece found by anyone, anywhere around the fall with people looking for them _and with people knowing that there is money in it_, I find it highly implausible that you were hit by a meteorite. With meteorite falls, there is one piece, or there are lots of pieces. And if there were lots of pieces, some of those extra ones would have been found. There were no other cars around me. It was raining heavily so unlikely that any bird was flying an dropped anything. My car was hit within minutes of the hit in Peekskill, which was just a few miles away. So I don’t have any convincing proof it wasn’t a meterorite, and until I do I’m going to stick to my story as unlikely as it is 🙂 And jeez, it’s a pretty neat coincidence anyway, a meteor hits the car of someone I know at approximately the same time and location when something cracks the side view mirror of my car. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/30 "2018-01-17T14:03:28Z")
I more or less totally missed it. I had earbuds in and was watching Netflix. I thought I heard something, but shrugged it off as just the landscaping company plowing snow. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/31 "2018-01-17T14:34:30Z")
**TriPolar** , if you have no evidence at all, then the most likely explanation for what happened to your car was _absolutely nothing happened_. But it sounds like you’re saying that you do have evidence of some sort-- What was it? A sound? A dent in the car? A broken window? A flash of light while you were driving? All of those are evidence, and we can’t even venture to guess what caused “it” if we don’t know what “it” was. Oh, and the Peeksklll meteor was seen from pretty much the entire eastern US. My mom and I saw it in central Ohio, and my sister also saw it in the DC area. So it’s not at all implausible that someone might have seen this Michigan meteor from 150 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/32 "2018-01-17T15:23:44Z")
[Here](https://www.amsmeteors.org/2018/01/bright-fireball-spotted-over-michigan/) are the reported siting locations so far. The meteorites on the ground are going to be a number of miles west of wherever the explosion happened directly overhead. My best guess is somewhere in the area of Lansing. The biggest pieces will be furthest west. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/33 "2018-01-17T15:58:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **TriPolar** , if you have no evidence at all, then the most likely explanation for what happened to your car was _absolutely nothing happened_. But it sounds like you’re saying that you do have evidence of some sort-- What was it? A sound? A dent in the car? A broken window? A flash of light while you were driving? All of those are evidence, and we can’t even venture to guess what caused “it” if we don’t know what “it” was. > > Oh, and the Peeksklll meteor was seen from pretty much the entire eastern US. My mom and I saw it in central Ohio, and my sister also saw it in the DC area. So it’s not at all implausible that someone might have seen this Michigan meteor from 150 miles away. I had a broken side mirror and the minor circumstantial evidence that a meteor did hit a car a few miles away. Any unknown object hitting a car has some non-zero chance of being a meteor, but that number has a lot of 0s to the right of the decimal point. In may case I think there is at least one less 0. ETA: And yes, a sound, I was driving, I heard the crack as the mirror broke. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/34 "2018-01-17T17:56:17Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Look out for blob and/or andromeda strains. Meteor shit! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/35 "2018-01-17T18:02:43Z")
I saw a sudden brightening of the sky while walking the dog last night. It was quite bright for a few seconds in the Lansing area, though it was too cloudy to see the actual fireball. Pretty cool, I thought it was either a meteor or some transformer blew in the area. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/36 "2018-01-17T18:27:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Meteor shit! been decades since I’ve seen _Creepshow._ ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/37 "2018-01-17T18:36:05Z")
Several years ago I saw (from here in Fort Worth) a big fireball meteor streak across the sky. Very cool thing to see with your own eyes. It looked kind of green. I believe pieces of it were found on the ground southeast of Dallas. On the TCU campus in Forth Worth, they have a very nice collection of meteorites on display in a small museum inside one of the science buildings. It’s interesting to see the different types/compositions and also to see the provenance regarding how some of them were found or obtained. It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area and have an interest in such things. [https://monnigmuseum.tcu.edu/](https://monnigmuseum.tcu.edu/) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/38 "2018-01-17T18:43:57Z")
Here is an astronomer guessing “around Mount Clemens”, which is far east of my guess. The site I linked earlier now has [an incident report](https://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2018/168) up. I was hoping the viewing directions would be useful, but I can’t make out anything useful in the tangle. The place where the meteor explodes is not where the meteorites land–the fragments continue to travel forward in “dark flight” for miles after that–the bigger pieces travel further than the smaller ones (air resistance slows the smaller pieces more quickly.) Assuming that the explosion happend roughly over the densest clump of reporters, (and that it was traveling east to west) then the fall is going to stretch out over an area to the west of that clump–so, closer to Lansing than Mount Clemens. I also saw another piece on Google News speculating about the pieces going for $300 per gram, to which I say, not bloody likely. Depending on how much there is, I say closer to $50 to $100 per gram. That’s the rough price range for comparable recentish witnessed falls in the US like [Park](http://fernlea.tripod.com/park.html) [Forest](http://michaelbloodmeteorites.com/Hammers3.html) and [Ash](http://outofabluesky.com/meteorites-for-sale/stoney-meteorites/ash-creek-west-l6/) [Creek](http://www.meteoriteguy.com/adventures/ashcreek/ashcreektexas.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/39 "2018-01-17T18:48:41Z")
For full comedic effect, place this thing in Hawaii a few days ago. > [@jz78817](#): > > been decades since I’ve seen _Creepshow._ I have occasion to exclaim “Mee-tee-or Shit!” once every couple years. Feels like I’m the only person alive who even knows the reference. When one of the cats is mauling a spider I’ll sometimes mutter to the spidey, “Tell him to call you Billie.” Again, nobody knows what I’m on about. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791/40 "2018-01-17T19:00:13Z")
How far out would this have been felt? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-just-hit-here-in-se-michigan-woah/806791.md?page=3)