Several Albertans caught a glimpse of a fireball that lit up the morning sky across the province on Tuesday.
Initial observations came from drivers heading to work, with a few calling into 660 NewsRadio at around 6:30 a.m., saying it was pretty amazing.
“I’m on Stoney (Trail) in Calgary, but it was north,” one caller said. “But it was a big fireball when it came down. It was pretty spectacular to watch.”
Facebook page Alberta Aurora Chasers was already on the case, as several people were discussing the fireball in the sky and reported their sightings.
The fireball was spotted across the province, according to aurora chasers on the page, including Okotoks, Wetaskiwin, Edmonton, Calgary, and even in Wonowon in B.C.
A few managed to capture videos, sharing the feat as it zipped through the sky.
Tim Eerkes, who posted his dashcam video while driving in his home city of Edmonton, said he was in awe when he saw it flying through the sky.
“I was all of a sudden driving, and I see this bright light all of a sudden shooting through the sky, and it just kind of shocked me. Like, wow, what was that?”
“And then my second thought was, ‘Did my dashcam get?’ It was amazing, it’s the first time I’ve seen anything that bright.”
He has seen meteors before, but nothing this big. This was also his first meteor posting, only having shared aurora sightings.
“I’ve seen a couple of other postings on that site, but the reaction is just amazing how people are awed by this,” Eerkes said.
Eric Donovan, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Calgary, says it’s clearly a meteor, but adds it’s rare to see one in person.
“I’m 65 years old, and I spent a lot of time out at night looking at the sky, and I’ve seen — in person — I think maybe four or five things like this or brighter in my whole life,” he said.
“It’s a very cool event … whenever I see a video like this, I wish I’d seen it in person.”
A single fireball report was listed on the American Meteor Society (AMS) site on Monday in the Carstairs area. Some on the group page, including Ryan Thompson, suggest reporting their findings to the AMS to help meteorite hunters and other agencies “triangulate its fall.”
Donovan says researchers at university observatories in Calgary, Edmonton, and Ontario would also be able to use the information to reconstruct the meteor’s trajectory as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
“That information then goes into the larger, I would say, scientific warehouse of knowledge that people use, among other things, to study the early solar system and the nature of the early solar system,” he said.
“So, these are really useful events, and they’re beautiful. I’m a little bit envious that I didn’t see it in person because, you know, these are cool to see.”
According to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), fireballs are extremely bright meteors that are “spectacular enough to be seen over a very wide area.”
