Spotted on Video: Watch as a Meteor is Caught Over North Liberty

The night sky may not be as "romantic as it seems." People have always made wishes on shooting stars, but what they don't think about as they're holding their partners hand on a blanket in the wide open field (ok...that is pretty romantic) is that shooting stars are not stars at all but actually space debris that enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up before reaching the ground.

Shooting stars aren't just one type of meteor; in fact, they're classified into three different types depending on where they are spotted.

According to Nasa:

Meteoroids are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. Think of them as “space rocks."

 

When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.

 

When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

Our friends up in North Liberty, Iowa got a show last Sunday.  According to their Facebook post below, their plow driver, Ryan, was pulling in and caught it with his bare eyes.  Then remembered the security system was on and sure enough...they caught the "shooting star"...or as I like to call them, "flaming space rock"...on camera.

If you ever get to Winslow, Arizona...after you've cranked up "Take It Easy" by the Eagles a few times...do yourself a favor and go check out the meteorite crater.

According to Wikipedia: It is about 3,900 ft (1,200 m) in diameter, some 560 ft (170 m) deep, and is surrounded by a rim that rises 148 ft (45 m) above the surrounding plains.

For more "ROCK" news keep it here on 97X.