WEST MICHIGAN. — As families prepared for bed late Thursday night, streaks of light lit up the skies above Kent and Ottawa counties. The mysterious sight was accompanied by a loud boom that lasted over a minute long, and shook the ground.
Hundreds of people throughout West Michigan hopped on social media afterwards to express their shock and confusion at what they had just experienced.
Katie Schumaker, in Kentwood, described her experience saying she was, "inside watching TV and heard a really loud, deep rumbling outside that lasted a long time."
"It sounded like rolling thunder, but louder and more frequent."
Multiple people described a similar sound, happening at some point around 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
"It almost sounded like, if you were next to the train tracks when they're going over it, bumping, or almost as if a plane was going over," Angelica Ward, who lives in Kentwood as well, described to FOX 17.
“It was just insanity. Like, I'm surprised the kids didn't wake up. That's how loud it was at my house.”
It wasn't just the noise that caught their attention though, there was something peculiar streaking across the sky.
"I turn around, or look to my right, and the sky is lighting up orange," Kelly Stafford, who lives in Jamestown Township, said Friday.
"And then, it was like pops of orange."
Ron Earl in Wyoming caught video of something streaking across the sky around the same time the booming noise was heard.
Several people online watched Earl's video of the object, and a video captured by Angelica Ward in which you could hear the grinding noise. They described experiencing very similar sights and sounds.
Some on social media speculated that this could be related to the annual Perseid meteor show which will be visible this weekend.
FOX 17 spoke to Robert Lunsford with the American Meteor Society Friday to get his take on what may have happened.
“The Perseids do not produce any sound because they totally vaporize before they get down to the lower atmosphere, where the air molecules are dense enough to carry sound waves,” Lunsford explained.
“So, I don't know what they're hearing, but it's not the Perseid meteors.”
Some meteors do create sound you can hear when they break through the atmosphere.
“You can hear meteors if they're made out of stone, and come from asteroids. Those tend to go slower than the Perseids, make it down further into the atmosphere, and they can actually produce a sonic boom,” Lunsford said.
FOX 17 showed the videos captured Thursday night to the meteor expert.
He said based on his longtime experience in the world of analyzing astrological events, he does not believe the videos truly show a meteor, nor does he think the sound we hear in the video is a sonic boom.
It is possible that West Michigan did experience a meteor entering the atmosphere, but Lunsford does not believe that is what is captured on the videos.
Regardless, there will be incredible conditions this weekend to see the Perseid meteor shower.
While they should be visible much of the weekend, the ideal time will likely be late Saturday into Sunday morning.
"The best time to view these meteors is midnight to dawn, and the absolute best time is that wee hour about 4:00 a.m., when it lies high in the sky, and you can see meteors shoot in all directions," Lunsford said.
He suggests traveling to a location away from city lights.
The more stars you can see in the sky, the more meteors you will be able to see.
"The colors on these are often vivid too... most of the Perseids are orange to yellow. Occasionally, you'll get some really exotic ones, like purple or blue," Lunsford explained.
"So, something to look forward to."
For more information on viewing the Perseid meteor shower, you can visit the American Meteor Society's website HERE.
