Fireball meteor, spotted across Canada and U.S, among most reported to the American Meteor Society

Nearly a day after witnessing a mysterious stream of light beaming through the evening skies while driving through Windsor, Ont., Bassem Mazloum still wasn’t sure what he had witnessed.

It was colourful: red and yellow with a hint of blue and green, he said.

“I thought a falling star that was really slow or really big — or a meteor which is something I never thought I’d see.”

Officials with the American Meteor Society (AMS) confirm that’s exactly what he saw. On Thursday around 7:30 p.m., a fireball meteor passed over parts of Canada and the U.S.

It wasn’t your typical meteor either. In fact, it’s become one of the most reported fireball meteor sightings to the American Meteor Society this year.

Fireball meteors aren’t a rare phenomenon by any means, according to AMS operations manager Mike Hankey. He said the group has received more than 450 reports of fireball meteor sightings just in 2022.

But what makes Thursday’s meteor so unique was its trajectory and the time at which it fell.

“Its size is part of it but it’s also the angle that it entered Earth’s atmosphere. This was a shallow angle … so it travelled for a longer period on a longer track of land,” said Hankey, adding the meteor fell for about 10 seconds which is “long for a fireball meteor.”

“But it also came at the perfect time when a lot of people were outside and the skies were clear. I’m in Maryland and a lot of people actually saw it here as well. People in Kentucky saw it. You’re all the way in Ontario and you saw it.”

Hankey added while Thursday’s meteor likely started about one metre in size when it fragmented, it was likely the equivalent of a raisin or grape by the time it hit the Earth — assuming it hadn’t already disintegrated before impact.

“It’s not the type of thing that creates a crater on the ground or starts a fire or is even hot or glowing on the ground,” said Hankey.

But for people like Emilie Robak, who describes herself as a “space nerd,” Thursday’s phenomenon is something she won’t soon forget.

She was driving her car when she happened to look outside at the right moment.

“I was just speechless,” said Robak.

She said the closest experience she had to what she witnessed Thursday was simply watching videos of shooting stars as a child.

“I was just pretty excited. I felt like a little kid again.”

As of Friday evening, the AMS has received 916 sighting reports for Thursday’s meteor. That puts the event just behind sightings of a fireball meteor in the United Kingdom this year which received 1,259 reports.