Fireball lights up sky across Canadian prairies

March 31, 2009 A bright object, likely a meteor, was seen shooting across the sky and was sighted by residents across the Canadian prairies early Tuesday morning.

At approximately 6:30 a.m. local time (MDT) the object appeared to early morning travelers, commuters and joggers.

"It kind of glowed green, and it looked like it was falling very, very quickly. It just kind of reminded me of a falling star or something," said Cheryl Cook-Taylor, who was traveling to work in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

"It kind of disintegrated. It was traveling north to south. Very bright. I actually thought it was a plane taking off from the airport and then bits started falling off. Really quite an amazing sight," said another witness to the phenomenon.

Newspapers and radio stations across Saskatchewan and Alberta have been inundated with callers reporting the fireball. It has been described as a bright green, yellow and blue streak flashing across the skies which then broke into pieces. A geologist from the University of Calgary, Dr. Alan Hildebrand, says the object was likely a meteor that was between 10 and 100 kilograms in size. The light show lasted around ten seconds.

On November 20, 2008 prairie skies were previously lit up by a fireball. A huge meteorite had disintegrated, and pieces were found near the border city of Lloydminster.