* Astronomy

'Intense' meteor dazzles stargazers across Midwest

Dan Joyce was headed west with a buddy and a big telescope, hoping to take advantage of the "beautiful night" when a slash of brilliant green shot across the evening horizon.
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Meteor was size of basketball doing about 36,000 mph

The meteor that blazed across the sky in the Chicago area Wednesday night was probably about the size of a basketball and moving about 36,000 mph, according to a NASA scientist who said they are not all that uncommon.
Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, said a fireball as bright as the one that hundreds of people from Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa reported seeing in the sky Wednesday night occurs about once a month. At this time of year, in fact, bright fireballs, though not as bright as the one seen Wednesday, occur every few days, he said.
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