Watch above: A view of possible meteor
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TORONTO – Dozens of people from Toronto, Oshawa, Peterborough, and surrounding areas reported seeing a bright fireball in the sky Sunday afternoon followed by a loud sonic boom.
Twitter soon exploded with several accounts of the event.
— Bobby Mehta (@DrBobbyMehta) May 4, 2014
The American Meteor Society received several reports from Toronto, Ajax, Caledon, Port Perry, and Richmond Hill.
“I have watched meteor showers before, but I have never seen anything like this in my entire life. My first thought was that it was a jet on fire and blowing up, but I had time while watching it to decide it must be a meteor,” wrote one person who identified herself as Denise P. on the society’s fireball reporting page.
Jay Callaghan, who lives in Peterborough told Global News, “The kids were outside and heard it. I just came in and was in house when the room shook (I have a brick house so I knew it wasn’t a gust a wind). My first reaction was to check the house, then the latest earthquake data online. Once I saw the Twitter comments on a bright flash, loud boom I knew exactly what it was.”
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Kristin Foster was out walking her dog Buddy at Broadview and Pretoria in Toronto.
“Just before the intersection a bright light in the sky caught my attention,” she said in an email to Global News. “I saw a very bright object that was obviously on fire. It had a long tail and trailed smoke (although there wasn’t a line of smoke left behind it). I didn’t hear anything…It was really impressive. I’ve seen meteors before, but never during the day and never this large and bright.”
Not only were there eyewitness reports, but many reported hearing it and feeling houses shake.
Earth is travelling through debris left over from the passage of Halley’s Comet. This meteor shower, called the Eta Aquarids, usually produces about 30 to 40 meteors an hour. It is not clear whether or not this was indeed part of that shower.
If you saw the meteor, report it to the American Meteor Society.
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