Watch a Mammoth Unexpected Christmas Meteor Explode Over Missouri
There are several times per year during known meteor showers when it's not unusual to see something like this. However, this huge meteor was completely unexpected as it exploded over Missouri as captured on video by a photographer.
Dan Bush of Missouri Skies on YouTube shared this video from Albany, Missouri the night of Thursday, December 22 at around 11:43pm. It's what's known as a sporadic meteor meaning it's not associated with any known meteor shower like the Orionids or Leonids.
This big space rock exploded so close to the ground, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a meteorite that made its way to the ground.
I found this fireball event on the American Meteor Society website and it was reported visible over Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota. You know you have a big meteorite when it's viewable from that large of an area.
It wasn't the only fireball to explode over Missouri. Another just happened early Christmas morning, too.
As of now, there are no reports of anyone finding a meteorite. I'll gladly update this article if that changes. It's one of the brightest meteors we've seen over Missouri this year and just happened to come a couple days prior to Christmas.