Midwesterners enjoying a little post-Christmas downtime outdoors on December 26th got a big surprise when a huge fireball—an extremely bright meteor—streaked through the sky around nightfall (around 5:30 p.m CST).

Witnesses described seeing a flaming green ball as bright as the sun shoot across the sky before fragmenting and disappearing on Thursday night. Some even reported several delayed sonic booms and other sonic effects.

Joe Wright, operations director at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Warkoczewski Public Observatory and vice president of the Astrological Society of Kansas City was interviewed for this story on The Weather Channel website.