BELTRAMI COUNTY, Minn. — The bright flash captured on camera Monday night in Beltrami County doesn't appear to be a meteor after all, according to officials.
The video, which was caught on a security camera by a resident of Nymore, shows a "bright flash of white/blue" streaking through the sky on Monday evening, followed by a boom that officials said "rattled windows, shook houses and was across much of Beltrami County." The video was shared on social media with many believing it was potentially a meteor.
On Tuesday, the video, along with additional video from the Bemidji Regional Airport, was given to an astronomer and a scientist from NASA to determine what the flash and boom were. After further analysis, it was determined that the object was "too horizontal to indicate it was a meteor," adding that further data would need to be collected "to further eliminate possible other interfering objects."
Officials believe the flash and boom were less than a mile apart, and it's unclear if the source was stationary or mobile, according to a press release from the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office. The release goes on to say that residents in an approximate 50-mile area reported seeing the flash. The boom was heard by even more people.
"This has certainly been an interesting puzzle to try and solve, and we still don’t know exactly what it was,“ said Beltrami County Emergency Management Director and Public Information Officer Christopher Muller in a release. “We appreciate the assistance we’ve received from federal agencies and science community in ruling out what it wasn’t and will continue to provide any subsequent information that is learned. The fact this was seen and heard across such a large area is what is a mystery. What was it?”
Officials say there have been no reports of damage and that there have been no reports of objects hitting the ground.
Dr. Jennifer Mitchell, lab manager with the University of Minnesota's Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, says nine meteorites are confirmed to have been found in Minnesota. A possible tenth meteorite is under review.
"If you see a weird-looking dark rock that wasn't there yesterday, solid chance it's a meteorite. Please take a photo of it, put it in a plastic bag, get in touch with someone and we'll be able to work out whether or not it is actually from space," Mitchell said. "It does happen. I would rather have 1,000 meteor-wrongs to get one meteorite."
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