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Researchers seek insight from January's Michigan meteor

Posted at 2:52 PM, Aug 26, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-27 07:15:34-04

Michigan seismologists are studying a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere over the state in January with the help of scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the University of Michigan seismologists and the California scientists will publish their combined data in an upcoming research paper.

The findings could help researchers understand how often bolides occur outside the view of witnesses. Bolides are meteors that explode in the atmosphere.

The Jan. 17 meteor showered small fragments down near Livingston County's Hamburg Township west of Detroit. It's rare for such large meteor events to occur in a heavily populated area within the recording capability of several scientific instruments.

People in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri also reported seeing the meteor.