Several Suburban Illinois Doorbell Cams Caught A Falling Meteor

These doorbell cameras are so much more useful than just catching people stealing packages off your porch. 

A huge meteor fell Friday night over southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.

A remarkable number of people with doorbell cameras caught the action and shared the video on social media.

Pretty cool stuff.

While we're here, how about a crash course on what you call things in the night sky:

• Comet: A body of ice, rock and dust that can be several miles in diameter and orbits the sun. Debris from comets is the source of many meteoroids.
• Meteoroid: A small rocky or metal object, usually between the size of a grain of sand or a boulder, that orbits the sun. It originates from a comet or asteroid.
• Meteor: A meteoroid that enters the earth’s atmosphere and vaporizes. Also called a “shooting star.”
• Meteorite: A meteor that hits Earth without burning up in the atmosphere.
• Meteor shower: A collection of meteors visible when Earth passes through a trail of debris left by a comet.
• Asteroid: An object larger than a meteoroid that orbits the sun and is made of rock or metal. Historically, objects larger than 10 meters across have been called asteroids.

Don't make the social snafu of calling a meteor an asteroid or some other celestial body.