Meteor Lights Up Sky Over Michigan

The National Weather Service in Detroit said a flash seen over Michigan and the boom heard was not thunder or lightning, but instead a meteor. 

According to CBS Detroit, residents have been calling in to report what some describe as a boom or blast heard just after 8 p.m.

"Heard a boom and I kind of thought I felt something -- and my dog freaked out," one caller told the station.

NWS Detroit later tweeted the USGS reported a magnitude 2.0 earthquake caused by the meteor.

Through a text alert to residents, Ingham County Emergency Management Update wrote "Multiple sources report that a fireball meteor was seen over the county earlier this evening. While many also reported an explosion, there is no indication that anything landed on the ground or caused damage. Most likely it was the boom of the meteor breaking apart. And that there is no need to call 911."

Michael Narlock, head of astronomy at Cranbrook Institute of Science, said Tuesday's incident appears to be what's considered a bolide meteor, which tends to be large and explodes in the atmosphere. Narlock adds that this incident is similar to the meteor that was seen over Russia in 2013.

They can be silent as they fall or they may make a crackling sound, Narlock adds. He says his colleagues reported hearing crackling. 

Narlock says bolide meteors move across the atmosphere, come apart and the likeliness of it falling and reaching Earth intact is rare.