Michigan offers the best fireworks in the galaxy as meteor breaks apart

On the Fourth of July, people crane their necks to the sky. It’s a natural inclination to watch the fireworks being set off across the country. In Northern Michigan on Independence Day, it wasn’t the fireworks being set off from the ground that inspired the most awe. Rather, it was something coming from space that put on the best show.

Hundreds of people saw the film, but it was Jeff Dixon, a visual artist from Northern Michigan, who happened to be in the right place at the right time and captured the majesty of the crash and descent to Earth on camera.

The video was shared as a reel on Facebook.

Although the event took place on the night of July 3rd, the spectacular show can only be associated with the fireworks on July 4th.

So what was the object that entered the Earth’s atmosphere? It was apparently something man-made returning home. Dixon shared this in the commentary on his video:

FROM 2021: Northern lights hunters are impressed by spectacular green fireball over Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin

Looks like it was a Starlink satellite. One was supposed to land around that time and the orbit was above average. I also did a bit of reading and the lifespan of the Starlink satellites is 5-7 years, which means we’ll have hundreds if not thousands more of them in the future. Keep your eyes peeled.

The object was spotted over a wide swath of northern Michigan. The video came from above Lake Superior, but there are also numerous reports from northern Lower Michigan, like this one from Reddit,

Did anyone see a large meteor last night between 11 and 11:30? From my vantage point in the community of Torch Lake, it was due north, coming from west to east, and was a bright red streak that broke up into hundreds of sparkling red and gold streaks and then burned up within 3 to 5 seconds. I would have thought it was a firework, but it was way too high and fast. I was hoping someone would take a photo of it, I was too slow!

If you happened to catch the special fireworks display during the holidays, consider yourself lucky.

Fourteen Michigan residents have spent time in space