The Night Sky Guy

New Video of Midwestern Fireball

Take a look at this cool video compilation of the the green fireball seen over much of the U.S. Midwestern region last night. Police stations and the FAA got flooded with calls from eyewitnesses who saw this meteor shooting across the heavens and creating a big light show and even sonic boom heard across many states. No reports yet of any fragments making it to the ground.

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Ontario Meteor Lights up Sky

On the night of February 20th  at about 6:15 pm, the evening sky was lit up across southern Ontario by a small meteor, otherwise known as a shooting star. Reports indicate that it may have been a baseball to basketball size space rock that burned up in the upper atmosphere at least 30 km in altitude.  Events like these are not all that uncommon, but when they occur over populated areas during evening hours they do get noticed by hundreds if not thousands of people.  Usually meteors are sand grain sized material that hits Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds and get burned up completely before ever hitting the ground. Sometimes larger rocks can produce what is known as a bolide – a bright fireball with a trail of smoke – and can actually make it to the ground. From the many dozens of accounts I have received it appears the February 20th meteor fall put on quite a light show.

Eyewitness from Ottawa region say it appeared as a bright flash nearly overhead while observers in the Toronto area describe a bright yellow/orange coloured streak lasting 2 to 5  seconds about 30 to 40 degrees above the southeastern horizon – heading south.  So far there are no indications that any fragments made it to the ground.

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Montreal Meteor Last Night?

This morning I have been fielding media calls and getting reports from skywatchers about a possible meteor-fireball seen over the Montreal city skies last night, Thursday at 7:30 pm. Most descriptions say that it was a bluish-green fireball that appeared to go in and out of the clouds, with bits splitting off, all occurring  in just a matter of a second or two. This is consistent with what astronomers call a bolide – a space rock coming through the atmosphere at about 20 km per second and ionizing anywhere 5 to 100 km in altitude. How big was the meteor itself? They can be anywhere from the size of a baseball to a sofa. We will have to wait to see if there were any photos or video taken of the event- which astronomers could use to determine if and where there might be any meteorites on the ground.

Here is a snippet of what witnesses are saying…”I saw it. There were some clouds but not much, it didn’t obstruct my view and it was going towards Orion’s belt which was very clear in the sky last night between 19h40 and 19h50. It’s trajectory was horizontal but slightly downward and still far from falling. The color was fluorescent green and what seems to me to be as big as a basketball with a small trail. I saw it coming from over Montreal all the way across the sky to towards St-Basile-Le-Grand. So although it only lasted a few seconds, I had a good look.” -Edith – St.Bruno

“As I was driving home last night through St-Eustache, Quebec I chanced to look out my left window. I was shocked to see a bright bluish green fireball or meteorite with a beautiful tail flying through the sky which lasted several seconds. Just before it extinguished there was a small bit that broke off.” – Renee, St-Eustache.

Did you see the meteor last night? If so, send me a report in the comments link below or even photos or videos at : andrew@thenightskyguy.com If it was anything like the one seen over Toronto-Hamilton skyline on Sept.25th last year – there may even be some chunks that may have landed. Check out this video of the Ontario/Grimsby meteor (size of a tricycle)- the Montreal one should have put on a similar show. This footage was taken by a seven all-sky video cameras set up by meteor researchers at University of Western Ontario. 

In past events like these, security cameras in parking lots for instance, may have recorded something. Also police car dashcams can make amazing records of fireballs like this one. Check out this video made in November 20, 2008 from a cop car in Edmonton, Alberta. It would be wonderful to get footage like this from Thursday’s event.

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Amazing Fireball Videos

Check out this cool compilation video of this week’s giant fireball that blazed over the state of Utah. All the shots were taken by surveillance cameras. Spaceweather.com reports that the meteor exploded with the equivalent of 0.5 to 1 kilotons of TNT and probably not associated with this week’s Leonid shower.

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Meteor ‘Sprinkle’ this Week

Taurid meteor streaks appear to come from Taurus constellation

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