A bright meteor briefly swept across the sky over parts of the U.S. Midwest and Canada on Tuesday and then caused a powerful explosion that rattled homes and onlookers, officials said.
The meteor was seen in Ohio, Michigan and Ontario at about 8 p.m. Eastern time and registered a 2.0 magnitude tremor about 4 miles east of Saint Clair Shores in eastern Michigan, the United States Geological Survey said on its website.
A bird? A plane? A meteor may have lit up the sky above Detroit, according to the National Weather Service. https://t.co/YOg9RvY3OR pic.twitter.com/SvYdyWXPKM
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 17, 2018
The National Weather Service confirmed it was not a meteorological event but more likely a meteor.
"The NWS can confirm the flash and boom was NOT thunder or lightning, but instead a likely meteor," the NWS in Detroit said on Twitter.
The meteor sighting lit up social media with people posting videos and reaction.
"I can't believe there was a Meteor! It shook our house and made a large bang! We thought someone hit our house," Twitter user Jennifer Wilson said in a post.
#meteor scared the buhjesus out of us pic.twitter.com/qFcFMotFDi
— PirateHooker (@BlackBeerded) January 17, 2018
Others had more ominous thoughts.
"I thought for sure I was either seeing the alien invasion or the apocalypse. It's awesome in retrospect, freaky … in real time," said a Twitter user who goes by the name Crash.