Fireballs on the Rise

There are increasing meteor reports recently all over the world. More debris from the Px tail...

ZetaTalk: Live Chat, written November 21, 2009

"When the debris from the tail of Planet X first started arriving in ernest, in 2004, the establishment chose to call this space junk. When the public became alarmed at the amount of space junk falling to Earth they tried to enhance the story by claiming that two satellites had crashed into each other, but this just made a bad story worse. Since fireballs have not gone away, but continued apace and if anything gotten worse, a new term has been used - asteroids. This is debris in the tail of Planet X, which is increasingly turning toward the Earth, hosed out from the N Pole of Planet X. This is why the wobble has gotten more violent, why electromagnetic disruption of dams and airplanes has occurred, and why blackouts will become more frequent. There will also be displays in the sky, some of which has already been noticed, from the electromagnetic tides assaulting the Earth's atmosphere. Stay tuned, more to come!"

March 3, 2012

Reports of a "bright light" and an "orange glow" were received by police across Scotland and the north of England around 9.40pm.

The Met Office tweeted: "Hi All, for anyone seeing something in the night sky, we believe it was a meteorite."

A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said the force had been "inundated" with calls about a bright object in the sky across the west of Scotland. A Durham Police spokeswoman said a number of calls came in around 9.45pm from concerned members of public who had seen a "bright light or a fire in the sky" and believed it may have been incidents involving an aircraft. "

It has been confirmed with air traffic control that there are no incidents of aircraftin difficult and nothing registered on radar," she said. "

The sightings are believed to be either an asteroid burning out or similar which has been restricted to the upper atmosphere only." Grampian Police said reports of people seeing a "flare or a bright object with a tail" were received from across the region. And Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary said numerous calls were made about a "large ball of fire in the sky" across Annandale and Eskdale.

One user wrote on the force's Facebook page: "It was awesome to see! Really big and bright!" Hundreds of people took to Twitter to report similar sightings across Scotland and the north of England. People described seeing a bright fireball moving across the sky with a large tail.

The Kielder Observatory also reported the sighting of a "huge fireball" travelling from north to south over Northumberland at 9.41pm. The Observatory posted on Twitter: "Of 30 years observing the sky #fireball best thing I have ever seen period."

LINEAR INCREASE OF FIREBALL EVENTS SINCE 2010

Source

What a Meteor Looks Like

Source

What a Large Daytime Fireball Looks Like

Chelyabinsk Fireball (2013)

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Comment by Scott yesterday

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From March 3, 2018:
American Meteor Society received over 60 reports about a fireball seen over Tennessee around 11:28pm local Eastern Standard Time.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csfO-iVqLTk]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NN2cIJll8Y]

American Meteor Society report
https://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2018/869

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Comment by M. Difato on Friday

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On March 7, 2018 one of the largest bolides produced in the past 20 years, came into the atmosphere as one rock, and it was roughly the size of a minivan.

http://fox59.com/2018/03/09/nasa-says-fireball-that-shook-washingto...

SEATTLE – The fireball hundreds of people reported over the Washington coast Wednesday night was a meteor entering our atmosphere, NASA scientists told KCPQ.

Around 7:10 p.m., Washingtonians reported a bright light in the sky, a boom and shaking. Grays Harbor Emergency Management followed the incident, but were not immediately sure what it was.

"The WA State Duty Officer contacted the FAA and the Western Air Defense Sector and was told they had no problems," Grays Harbor Emergency Management wrote. "There was NO earthquake. There are no reports of explosions or crashes on the ground. We will continue our investigation of the incident and will forward any information we receive."

Scientists quickly solved the mystery Thursday morning. It was a bolide, said Dr. Marc Fries, with the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Basically, a bolide is a fancy word for a really large meteor.

"Really large meteors are called fireballs," Fries said. "Really large fireballs are called bolides. This was a bolide."

Fries said the meteor appeared to travel northwest over Washington and landed about 14 miles off the coast. Scientists tracked the bolide with seismographs, weather satellites and other NASA equipment; some registering readings as far away as Manitoba, Canada.

This was one of the largest bolides produced in the past 20 years, Fries said. It came into the atmosphere as one rock, roughly the size of a minivan. Made up of rock and ice, it quickly broke down into smaller pieces, with the largest pieces – about the size of a brick – hitting the ocean.

"Most of the mass is gone as it enters the atmosphere," Fries said. "What survived was about 1 percent of what entered."

Many reported a big boom after the stream of light Tuesday, Fries said. At 14 kilometers a second, the bolide was fast enough to cause a sonic boom that rattled windows and shook homes.

A meteorite falls somewhere on Earth about once every day, Fries said, with most being much smaller than what splashed into the Pacific Wednesday night. From those, pieces from only about 12 meteorites are found each year.

Too bad the bolide over Washington ended in the ocean, Fries said. Bolides this big are rare, and it would have been great to study the rock that landed. Most meteors are around 4.5 billion years old and offer a look at the cosmic past.

"It gives us not just a window into the past but an actual piece of the solar system's past," Fries said.

It's not too rare to see a fireball. But for those who saw the big boom of light Tuesday night, it was a special experience.

"I've seen a few fireballs," Fries said. "But never one large enough to shake the ground."

<p><strong>On March 7, 2018 one of the largest bolides produced in the past 20 years, came into the atmosphere as one rock, and it was roughly the size of a minivan. </strong></p>
<p><strong> <a rel=nofollow href="http://fox59.com/2018/03/09/nasa-says-fireball-that-shook-washington-coast-about-the-size-of-minivan/" target="_blank">http://fox59.com/2018/03/09/nasa-says-fireball-that-shook-washingto...</a></strong></p>
<p> SEATTLE – The fireball hundreds of people reported over the<span> </span><a rel=nofollow href="http://q13fox.com/2018/03/07/loud-boom-flash-in-sky-reported-over-grays-harbor-county-and-olympics/">Washington coast Wednesday</a><span> </span>night was a meteor entering our atmosphere, NASA scientists<span> </span><a rel=nofollow href="http://q13fox.com/2018/03/08/nasa-says-fireball-that-shook-washington-coast-about-the-size-of-minivan/">told KCPQ</a>.</p>
<p>Around 7:10 p.m., Washingtonians reported a bright light in the sky, a boom and shaking. Grays Harbor Emergency Management followed the incident, but were not immediately sure what it was.</p>
<p>"The WA State Duty Officer contacted the FAA and the Western Air Defense Sector and was told they had no problems," Grays Harbor Emergency Management wrote. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">"There was NO earthquake. There are no reports of explosions or crashes on the ground.</span> We will continue our investigation of the incident and will forward any information we receive."</p>
<p>Scientists quickly solved the mystery Thursday morning. It was a bolide, said Dr. Marc Fries, with the NASA Johnson Space Center.</p>
<p>Basically, a bolide is a fancy word for a really large meteor.</p>
<p>"Really large meteors are called fireballs," Fries said. "Really large fireballs are called bolides. This was a bolide."</p>
<p>Fries said the meteor appeared to travel northwest over Washington and landed about 14 miles off the coast. Scientists tracked the bolide with seismographs, weather satellites and other NASA equipment; some registering readings as far away as Manitoba, Canada.</p>
<p>This was one of the largest bolides produced in the past 20 years, Fries said. It came into the atmosphere as one rock, roughly the size of a minivan. Made up of rock and ice, it quickly broke down into smaller pieces, with the largest pieces – about the size of a brick – hitting the ocean.</p>
<p>"Most of the mass is gone as it enters the atmosphere," Fries said. "What survived was about 1 percent of what entered."</p>
<p>Many reported a big boom after the stream of light Tuesday, Fries said. At 14 kilometers a second, the bolide was fast enough to cause a sonic boom that rattled windows and shook homes.</p>
<p>A meteorite falls somewhere on Earth about once every day, Fries said, with most being much smaller than what splashed into the Pacific Wednesday night. From those, pieces from only about 12 meteorites are found each year.</p>
<p>Too bad the bolide over Washington ended in the ocean, Fries said. Bolides this big are rare, and it would have been great to study the rock that landed. <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Most meteors are around 4.5 billion years old and offer a look at the cosmic past.</span></p>
<p>"It gives us not just a window into the past but an actual piece of the solar system's past," Fries said.</p>
<p>It's not too rare to see a fireball. But for those who saw the big boom of light Tuesday night, it was a special experience.</p>
<p><strong>"I've seen a few fireballs," Fries said. "But never one large enough to shake the ground."</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

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Comment by M. Difato on March 7, 2018 at 2:55pm

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Bright flash of light across the Ural mountains – Fireball caught over Chelyabinsk

http://meteorshowertonight.org/bright-flash-of-light-across-the-ura...

This happened on March 6, 2018 across the Ural mountains in Russia. And three days before, on March 3, 2018, another fireball lit up the sky over Chelyabinsk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGRbWbYvHKo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQYLDO8Yfag

and the resulting bright flash:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPi4npZYKhs

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Comment by Juan F Martinez on March 7, 2018 at 4:29am

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‘Potentially hazardous’ asteroid bigger than Golden Gate bridge hurtles towards Earth

Published time: 6 Mar, 2018 10:28

https://www.rt.com/news/420585-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-earth/

An asteroid bigger than the Golden Gate Bridge is careering toward Earth at breakneck speed. What’s even more alarming is that experts admit it’s “potentially hazardous” to our world.

Astronomers have been following asteroid 2017 VR12 since it was detected in November last year. NASA says that the enormous space rock will shave past our planet in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Measuring up to 470 meters (1,542ft) in diameter the rock is travelling through space at 14,093mph (22,680kph). Because it will come so close to Earth and is big enough to cause significant damage, if it were to strike, the Minor Planet Center designated the asteroid as “potentially hazardous.”

<h1 class="article__heading">‘Potentially hazardous’ asteroid bigger than Golden Gate bridge hurtles towards Earth</h1>
<div class="article__date">Published time: 6 Mar, 2018 10:28</div>
<div class="article__date"><a rel=nofollow href="https://www.rt.com/news/420585-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-earth/" target="_blank">https://www.rt.com/news/420585-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-earth/</a></div>
<div class="article__date"></div>
<div class="article__date"><div class="article__summary summary">An asteroid bigger than the Golden Gate Bridge is careering toward Earth at breakneck speed. What’s even more alarming is that experts admit it’s “potentially hazardous” to our world.</div>
<div class="article__text text"><p>Astronomers have been following asteroid 2017 VR12 since it was detected in November last year. NASA <a rel=nofollow href="https://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2017VR12/2017VR12_planning.2018.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">says</a> that the enormous space rock will shave past our planet in the early hours of Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>Measuring up to 470 meters (1,542ft) in diameter the rock is travelling through space at 14,093mph (22,680kph). Because it will come so close to Earth and is big enough to cause significant damage, if it were to strike, the Minor Planet Center <a rel=nofollow href="https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/Dangerous.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">designated</a> the asteroid as <em>“potentially hazardous.”</em></p>
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<div class="article__date"></div>
<div class="article__date"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/zxI8hZE5PJx6g3t87hDcmoDcURftatBcZqG93kcS7XWDtZ6ogQ5LUw3IYfaF2QE3PoQTndm-25xGiUTw8WEZ27DHlhVds8rU/5a9e6bc0fc7e9332138b461e.jpg" target="_self"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/zxI8hZE5PJx6g3t87hDcmoDcURftatBcZqG93kcS7XWDtZ6ogQ5LUw3IYfaF2QE3PoQTndm-25xGiUTw8WEZ27DHlhVds8rU/5a9e6bc0fc7e9332138b461e.jpg?width=750" class="align-full" width="750"/></a></div>

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Comment by Scott on March 3, 2018 at 5:23am

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American Meteor Society received over 80 reports about a fireball seen over Wisconsin on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 around 8:46pm local time.

Viewers reported seeing a green streak across the sky moving from northeast to southwest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bCDp-0_0SA

https://www.cbs58.com/news/numerous-reports-of-meteor-over-southeas...

American Meteor Society report

https://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2018/797

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Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on February 26, 2018 at 11:52pm

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Events in 2018 751-2018

AMS received 9 reports about a fireball seen over Overijssel, Île-de-France, England, Bretagne, Zuid-Holland, Pays de la Loire, Brandenburg and Friesland on Saturday, February 24th 2018 around 19:44 UT.

http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2018/751

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Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on February 26, 2018 at 6:35pm

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http://meteornews.org/fireball-february-24-0h11m-over-belgium/

Fireball February 24, 0h11m over Belgium

Feb 24, 2018

About an hour and half after its appearance the French astronomer François Collas announced that a very bright fireball had been registered at 0h11m33s UT by 10 FRIPON cameras most of them in France: Arras, Wimereux, Lille, Noordwijk (Netherlands), Bruxelles (Belgium), Charleville, Cappellelagrande, Hochfelden, Maubeuge and Oostkapelle (Netherlands).

Soon next morning the first CAMS BeNeLux stations started to confirm the detections of past night. Several stations had this fireball in their data. CAMS 815 (operated by Jean-Paul Dumoulin and Christian Wanlin) had the start of the fireball (Figure 2) on two successive frames. Paul Roggemans found the end of the fireball on his CAMS 384, while it passed the edge of CAMS 383 which was totally overexposed. All 6 cameras turned white overexposed at the moment of the brightest flare (Figure 3). Bart Dessoy had the fireball on CAMS 804, and for once the otherwise annoying reflection on the window of the camera housing offers a nice thumbnail image of the fireball. The video version of CAMS 804 may confuse many readers. Whenever an overexposed detection happens, CAMS reduces the brightness which results in a weird cloud of snow running though the picture. At some instant you see the black silhouet of the fireball as negative image (Figure 5). Luc Gobin got the fireball on CAMS 807 and 808 at Mechelen (Figure 6). Jean-Marie Biets at Wilderen had the event on CAMS 380 (Figure 7) and on his all-sky camera.

The messages started to appear in the meteor news groups as well as on Facebook. Below we give an overview of the first images we collected for this fireball from CAMS and from the EN All-sky cameras. Both Koen Miskotte at Ermelo (Figure 8), Klaas Jobse at Oostkapelle (Figure 9) and Jos Nijland at Benningbroek (Figure 10) registered this fireball.

<p><a rel=nofollow href="http://meteornews.org/fireball-february-24-0h11m-over-belgium/" target="_blank">http://meteornews.org/fireball-february-24-0h11m-over-belgium/</a></p>
<h1 class="entry-title">Fireball February 24, 0h11m over Belgium</h1>
<div class="post-meta vcard"><p> <span class="updated">Feb 24, 2018</span></p>
<p><span class="updated"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/mlEv6y5GaoqmRJbRFf9Pe1mmWu8KW9KGVOG7nEs1Qtj9I-qhqCfH0qPpup1DUjCw5gGRSOIIpReYB54GvQ*p*F6f3Y4nqaPc/ScreenShot022618at12.31PM.PNG" target="_self"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/mlEv6y5GaoqmRJbRFf9Pe1mmWu8KW9KGVOG7nEs1Qtj9I-qhqCfH0qPpup1DUjCw5gGRSOIIpReYB54GvQ*p*F6f3Y4nqaPc/ScreenShot022618at12.31PM.PNG" class="align-full" width="644"/></a></span></p>
<p><span class="updated">About an hour and half after its appearance the French astronomer <em>François Collas</em> announced that a very bright fireball had been registered at 0h11m33s UT by 10 FRIPON cameras most of them in France: Arras,  Wimereux,  Lille,  Noordwijk (Netherlands),  Bruxelles (Belgium), Charleville,  Cappellelagrande, Hochfelden, Maubeuge and Oostkapelle (Netherlands).</span></p>
<p>Soon next morning the first CAMS BeNeLux stations started to confirm the detections of past night. Several stations had this fireball in their data. CAMS 815 (operated by <em>Jean-Paul Dumoulin</em> and <em>Christian Wanlin</em>) had the start of the fireball (<em>Figure 2</em>) on two successive frames. <em>Paul Roggemans</em> found the end of the fireball on his CAMS 384, while it passed the edge of CAMS 383 which was totally overexposed. All 6 cameras turned white overexposed at the moment of the brightest flare (<em>Figure 3</em>). <em>Bart Dessoy</em> had the fireball on CAMS 804, and for once the otherwise annoying reflection on the window of the camera housing offers a nice thumbnail image of the fireball. The video version of CAMS 804 may confuse many readers. Whenever an overexposed detection happens, CAMS reduces the brightness which results in a weird cloud of snow running though the picture. At some instant you see the black silhouet of the fireball as negative image (<em>Figure 5</em>). <em>Luc Gobin</em> got the fireball on CAMS 807 and 808 at Mechelen (<em>Figure 6</em>). <em>Jean-Marie Biets</em> at Wilderen had the event on CAMS 380 (<em>Figure 7</em>) and on his all-sky camera.</p>
<p>The messages started to appear in the meteor news groups as well as on Facebook. Below we give an overview of the first images we collected for this fireball from CAMS and from the EN All-sky cameras. Both <em>Koen Miskotte</em> at Ermelo (<em>Figure 8</em>),  <em>Klaas Jobse</em> at Oostkapelle (<em>Figure 9</em>) and <em>Jos Nijland</em> at Benningbroek (<em>Figure 10</em>) registered this fireball.</p>
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Comment by Juan F Martinez on February 26, 2018 at 2:17pm

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Fireball, Chile 2/25/2018

Video: https://www.facebook.com/alertaperiodismoalternativo/videos/2060721...

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Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on February 20, 2018 at 1:41am

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http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2018/618

Events in 2018 618-2018

AMS received 38 reports about a fireball seen over WA, British Columbia, OR and Washington on Monday, February 19th 2018 around 04:55 UT.

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Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on February 20, 2018 at 1:35am

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http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2018/02/19/green-fireball-me...

Green 'fireball' meteor Sunday wows Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island

Object streaking across sky northward spotted from Vancouver, Victoria, and U.S.

Courtesy Rocky Raybell/Flickr Creative commons

A meteor is captured by Keller, Wash. photographer Rocky Raybell on Nov. 11, 2014. Another such fireball, but green in colour, was seen by many over Metro Vancouver on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018.

Metro Published on Mon Feb 19 2018

A large, green-turquoise object with an unusually long tail streaked across the skies of British Columbia's Lower Mainland on Sunday evening, around 8:50 p.m.

The meteor was witnessed by Metro from the TransCanada Highway near Chilliwack, to the northwest and seemingly heading northward.

Others in the region described it as a "fireball," and witnesses soon took to Twitter to confirm their accounts from as far away as Victoria, B.C. and Seattle.

Meteorologist Chris Doyle, Enviroment and Climate Change Canada's acting associate regional director of prediction services, saw the object and tweeted what he saw.

"Just saw a meteor … arguably a fireball … in the sky to the (south) of Granville island," the former Vancouver Olympics chief meteorologist posted to Twitter at 8:52 p.m. "Green flash and trail."

Others chimed in that they, too, had seen the object, some describing its colour as closer to turquoise. But all agreed it was an unusual sight much larger than a typical meteor.

"Just saw a meterorite," tweeted Suzanne Mitchell at 9 p.m. from Vancouver Island. "Orange and turquoise fireball streak across the sky over Mt. Benson in Nanaimo. Wow!"

In fact, a meteorite is a meteor that has impacted the ground, and no accounts yet surfaced of any reported impact with Earth, indicating the object likely burned up in the atmosphere.

Another Vancouver Island resident, in Victoria, saw the green fireball, too.

"I think I saw a green shooting star or meteor over #yyj tonight," tweeted Patricia Sharratt.

"We saw it too!" tweeted Greater Vancouver Board of Trade communications manager Greg Hoekstra at 9:16 p.m. Sunday. "From the West End it looked like a bright streak in the sky over UBC. A shooting star or meteor?"

Alex Ruiz, the B.C. Lions digital manager, wrote she saw the fireball and knew it was out of the ordinary.

"It looked like it changed colours, that’s why we thought meteor," Ruiz tweeted. "Or something big entering the atmosphere. Definitely not just a shooting star. Crazy."

Another witness reported the sight from the North Shore.

"Saw it from the pier in North Van while staring at the skyline!" tweeted Justine Estelle at 9:23 p.m. "Wondered if anyone else saw it."

The fireball was seen from Washington State, as well.

"Just saw a huge meteor burning in the sky over Puget Sound, Seattle," tweeted Tom Schmitz, a digital marketing expert. "Blue-green fireball. I haven't seen one that big in over 20 years."

Green fireballs have an extensive history — and modern lore — on the continent, with numerous sightings particularly in the southern U.S. since the 1940s which have spurred Cold War, atomic testing and UFO-related conspiracies, including a high-level military investigation.

Nonetheless, despite their popularity in the world of ufologists, most experts agree green fireballs are natural in origin. Astronomers call them "spectacular bolide" or fireball meteors. One such large green fireball was seen over Cold Lake, Alberta in 2011.

<div class="xg_user_generated"><p><a rel=nofollow rel="nofollow noopener" href="http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2018/02/19/green-fireball-meteor-sunday-wows-lower-mainland-vancouver-island.html" target="_blank">http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2018/02/19/green-fireball-me...</a></p>
<div class="article-headline"><h1>Green 'fireball' meteor Sunday wows Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island</h1>
<h2 class="subheadline">Object streaking across sky northward spotted from Vancouver, Victoria, and U.S.</h2>
<div class="article-artwork"><div class="parsys mainart" style="margin-top: 60px;"><div class="parbase thestarimage section"><div id="cq-image-jsp-/content/thestar/news/vancouver/2018/02/19/green-fireball-meteor-sunday-wows-lower-mainland-vancouver-island/jcr:content/mainart/image" class="thestar-image"><img src="http://www.metronews.ca/content/dam/thestar/2018/02/19/green-fireball-meteor-sunday-wows-lower-mainland-vancouver-island/story-323241-435717-image-rendered.jpg.size.xxlarge.letterbox.jpg" alt="A meteor is captured by Keller, Wash. photographer Rocky Raybell on Nov. 11, 2014. Another such fireball, but green in colour, was seen by many over Metro Vancouver on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018."/><div class="caption"><p class="credit buyphoto">Courtesy Rocky Raybell/Flickr Creative commons</p>
<p class="description">A meteor is captured by Keller, Wash. photographer Rocky Raybell on Nov. 11, 2014. Another such fireball, but green in colour, was seen by many over Metro Vancouver on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018.</p>
<div class="article-authors"><span class="staff">Metro</span> <span class="published-date">Published on <span class="js-date-time">Mon Feb 19 2018</span></span></div>
<div class="article-story float-clear"><div class="article-story-body"><div class="body parsys"><div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">A large, green-turquoise object with an unusually long tail streaked across the skies of British Columbia's Lower Mainland on Sunday evening, around 8:50 p.m.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">The meteor was witnessed by Metro from the TransCanada Highway near Chilliwack, to the northwest and seemingly heading northward.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Others in the region described it as a "fireball," and witnesses soon took to Twitter to confirm their accounts from as far away as Victoria, B.C. and Seattle.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Meteorologist Chris Doyle, Enviroment and Climate Change Canada's acting associate regional director of prediction services, saw the object and tweeted what he saw.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">"Just saw a meteor … arguably a fireball … in the sky to the (south) of Granville island," the former Vancouver Olympics chief meteorologist posted to Twitter at 8:52 p.m. "Green flash and trail."</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Others chimed in that they, too, had seen the object, some describing its colour as closer to turquoise. But all agreed it was an unusual sight much larger than a typical meteor.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">"Just saw a meterorite," tweeted Suzanne Mitchell at 9 p.m. from Vancouver Island. "Orange and turquoise fireball streak across the sky over Mt. Benson in Nanaimo. Wow!"</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">In fact, a meteorite is a meteor that has impacted the ground, and no accounts yet surfaced of any reported impact with Earth, indicating the object likely burned up in the atmosphere.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Another Vancouver Island resident, in Victoria, saw the green fireball, too.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">"I think I saw a green shooting star or meteor over #yyj tonight," tweeted Patricia Sharratt.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">"We saw it too!" tweeted Greater Vancouver Board of Trade communications manager Greg Hoekstra at 9:16 p.m. Sunday. "From the West End it looked like a bright streak in the sky over UBC. A shooting star or meteor?"</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Alex Ruiz, the B.C. Lions digital manager, wrote she saw the fireball and knew it was out of the ordinary.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">"It looked like it changed colours, that’s why we thought meteor," Ruiz tweeted. "Or something big entering the atmosphere. Definitely not just a shooting star. Crazy."</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Another witness reported the sight from the North Shore.</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">"Saw it from the pier in North Van while staring at the skyline!" tweeted Justine Estelle at 9:23 p.m. "Wondered if anyone else saw it."</p>
</div>
<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">The fireball was seen from Washington State, as well.</p>
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<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">"Just saw a huge meteor burning in the sky over Puget Sound, Seattle," tweeted Tom Schmitz, a digital marketing expert. "Blue-green fireball. I haven't seen one that big in over 20 years."</p>
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<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Green fireballs have an extensive history — and modern lore — on the continent, with numerous sightings particularly in the southern U.S. since the 1940s which have spurred Cold War, atomic testing and UFO-related conspiracies, including a high-level military investigation.</p>
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<div class="text combinedtext parbase section"><p class="__default">Nonetheless, despite their popularity in the world of ufologists, most experts agree green fireballs are natural in origin. Astronomers call them "spectacular bolide" or fireball meteors. One such large green fireball was seen over Cold Lake, Alberta in 2011.</p>
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