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Emerald Fireball Explodes Over Lake Huron After Streaking Across the Great Lakes

A bright green fireball streaked across the Great Lakes around 5:30 a.m., exploding over Lake Huron after producing vivid images and more than 40 eyewitness reports. Scientists say it was a small fragment of a comet traveling at roughly 160,000 km/h that became visible near 100 km altitude and broke up about 74 km above the lake. The event was isolated and not linked to the Leonid meteor shower. The green glow likely resulted from ionized nickel in the fragment.

04:23 PM, 12/01/2025Science
Emerald Fireball Explodes Over Lake Huron After Streaking Across the Great Lakes

At about 5:30 a.m. a week ago, witnesses across Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana reported a bright green fireball racing across the Great Lakes sky and exploding above Lake Huron. The vivid emerald trail was widely photographed and more than 40 eyewitness reports were logged with NASA.

Investigators from NASA and the American Meteorological Society determined the flash came from a small fragment of a comet traveling at roughly 160,000 km/h. The fragment became visible near 100 km above the small Michigan community of Hubbard Lake (west of Lake Huron), traveled about 132 km, and disintegrated at an altitude of approximately 74 km over Lake Huron.

While some bright fireballs are linked to periodic meteor showers, researchers say this was an isolated event and not associated with the Leonid meteor shower active at the time. According to NASA, the fragment was too small and moving too fast to have deposited meteorites into the lake.

“This event appears to have been caused by a small comet fragment,” NASA said in a statement. “It was too small and too fast to have dropped any meteorites into Lake Huron.”

The fireball's striking green color most likely resulted from the fragment’s chemical composition. A high concentration of nickel (and other elements that emit green light when ionized) would glow emerald as the material heated and ionized while burning up through the upper atmosphere.

Observers captured dramatic photos and video of the streak and breakup, providing investigators with trajectory data and imagery that helped confirm the object's speed, path and disintegration altitude. No injuries or damage were reported.

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Emerald Fireball Explodes Over Lake Huron After Streaking Across the Great Lakes - CRBC News