A fireball buzzed over the Prairies on Monday, temporarily piercing the dark of the early morning sky with a flash of blinding blue light.
What appeared to be a meteor — the streak of light created by an object as it enters Earth’s atmosphere — darted across the sky around 6:30 a.m. MT, startling early risers who were lucky to catch a glimpse of the sudden glow.
The light was captured by security cameras across Edmonton, and social media soon lit up with reports from observers who caught a glimpse of it.
The spectacle was seen in at least two provinces.
As of 8:30 a.m., there were 42 unverified reports of fireball sightings on the American Meteor Society (AMS) website.
The fireball was seen across the Prairies, with scattered reports from Jasper to Saskatoon.
‘That’s a falling star’
One observer who filed a report described the fireball as a bright flash of white “brighter than when a car turns its light to you in the dark.”
Another reporter said the fireball emitted a light blue glow before turning orange, leaving behind a trailing smoke line of dark grey.
What was that? <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/yeg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#yeg</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/meteorite?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#meteorite</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/stars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#stars</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/fallingstar?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#fallingstar</a> <a href=”https://t.co/drUgZXdYXX”>pic.twitter.com/drUgZXdYXX</a>
—@FamilyLines
Lea Storry, an Edmonton-based writer, was sitting near the window of her downtown Edmonton home office when she saw the flash. She captured the spectacle on her security camera.
“I live in a 13-storey condo building and it seemed like somebody was shining a bright red light in my eye,” Storry said.
“I was like, ‘Who? Who was doing that? How could they be doing that?’ ”
At first, she thought it was a police helicopter flying by, but then she saw the fireball.
“I thought, ‘That’s cool. I think that’s a falling star,’ ” she said.
“I’ve seen a couple of falling stars, but nothing ever that close and not so clear. So it’s definitely a first.”
Anyone else see the sky light up just a few minutes ago? Our security cameras caught it. Meteor? <a href=”https://t.co/f0fy0QcM0r”>pic.twitter.com/f0fy0QcM0r</a>
—@LaurenFink_
Did you catch footage of the possible meteor? Share your videos and photos with CBC Edmonton at WebEdmonton@cbc.ca
