Comments on: Alberta meteor. Eh.

By: Scratch

Scratch — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:47:35 +0000

Funny seeing this just a few years later. I’m pleased to say I now have a 44gm piece of that bad-boy on my desk at home. The Buzzard Coulee meteorite turned out to be a boon for collectors, despite the effort required to get a piece. Took three days of walking to get 2 pieces, but we got em fair and square.

Buzzard Coulee is remote though. You nailed that one Phil.

By: jay

jay — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:00:12 +0000

I witnessed a massive fireball at the exact time from northern MT. I would have guessed it to be in a line around Swift Current.

From my inner circle, it was an attempt by our lame duck president to start a war in the Alberta oilsands region. But, keep that quiet.

By: barb

barb — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:43:21 +0000

Fragments flew off the Meteor November 20th landing on my Mothers land , we went looking and found 2 piece’s. Very exciting.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:27:23 +0000

Too add to the above, the time i seen it was about 1030pm eastern time.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:25:13 +0000

In response to the comment below. I see the same thing. I live in Ocoee florida and was on my way to work in clermont and see exactly what you described. Looked like a firework going off however very large. It was really awesome. I know the leonoid meteor shower had just peaked around the same time.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[I was in Port Canaveral, Florida on Thursday. My sister and I were on the deck of the boat looking due west, when a bright blue meteor streaked across the sky. It was maybe four or five hand-widths above the horizon. Our first thought was that someone had set off a firework. It had that kind of look.

I wish I could remember what time it was. it was definitely in the evening - perhaps 8:00 or 9:00 PM.

J. D.]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

By: Breaking: Canadian fireball fragments found | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:29:17 +0000

[...] meteor that lit up Canadian skies last week. I don’t have much info, but this is good news. The object that came in must have weighed several tons, so there should be plenty of meteorites to be found. This is very [...]

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:52:19 +0000

Local news headline today says “Fireball was 10 tonnes.”

By: Andie

Andie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:24:57 +0000

i live in tampa florida, and i saw it on my way home. to me, the actual meteor and tail were visible for much longer than in the Canadian police video, and i did not see the sky light up. but it was definitely the same thing.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:45:31 +0000

I also saw the light that night. I live south east of macklin. Judging by the direction that I saw the smoke trail in about two minutes after the big light show, if you can go by that it might help out in finding the location a little better!
everyone describes it as one big light. I saw three, before the forth one which lite up the night sky. The first three grew more intense with each flash. I also talked to my kids who were not even close to the windows at the time,they were woundering what the red and blue light was that lite up the house. I also talked to my nephew later that night who had seen this thing go in two completely different directions!!

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:38:42 +0000

sorry that was a $1o,ooo reward

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:36:35 +0000

Most of the witnesses on this blog, close to Lloydminster, were north of Lloyd. Cold lake and lac la biche are both at a latitude 150 km north of Lloyd and the other guy that was at paradise hill was 30 km north then another 50 or so east. Most were driving and maybe didn’t have a compass so have to guess on direction. Any one in lloydminster who was outside at the time of the meteor report it bing almost directly overhead. Any one from lloyd who reports other wise was probly driving back to lloyd from somewhere (oilfield) and weren’t in town. The radio (106.1 fm the goat) reported today that a meteor collector from arizona will come here this week and has offered a $1000 reward for the first person to bring him a piece bigger than 1 kg. He expects that people should look between marsden saskatchewan and macklin sask right along the alberta saskatchewan border, If you read one of my earlier posts you will see that that is what I predicted.

As for radar, cfb cold lake is about 150 km directly north of Lloyd(10 or 15 minutes as the f18 flys), and the meteor (I bet it was as big as a huey helicopter) probly entered the atmosphere between here and there. Norad operates radars from cold lake nato has a training facility there. I guarantee they got it on radar.

I am much more sure that those were sonic booms I heard for 2 or 3 minutes after the flash, caused by many fragments of the meteor (it would have exploded into tiny pieces). I think I will go now and try to find a 1 kg chunk of radiated rock.

ttl eh

By: chinacorp

chinacorp — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:42:43 +0000

i’m truely intrigued by the events which took place over canadas skies late on thursday night (20/11/08), with regards to the sighting and possible impact of a small meteor, the one thing that has truely left me scratching my head though is that if said meteor did impact the ground why the heck hasn’t its location been pin pointed yet. I would have thought that with all the satalites and tracking stations set up across the northern hemisphere (especially in america) someone would have located the impact site by now, right?????

unless of course the impact/crash site is being kept a closely guarded secret, either that or the meteor didn’t impact the ground, it is possible that said meteor merely bounced off of the earths atmosphere…..

just a thought

By: Glen

Glen — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:38:39 +0000

A few conflicting reports here, if I read the comments correctly those in Saskatoon or Lloyd said it was south of them, one guy from Lac La Biche claimed it was south, and one guy from Pierceland claimed it was north of Pierceland.

Pierceland is roughly the same lat as Lac La Biche, and north of Lloyd and Saskatoon, so someone is mistaken.

Me, I was half sleeping in the back seat of my carpool vehicle but I overheard my fellow carpoolers yammering about a “real f#cking bright green flare” or something, at the time we were heading due west about the same lat as Lac La Biche, and I’m pretty sure they said it was in the southeast sky from where we were.

By: Jerimiah Harris

Jerimiah Harris — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:23:21 +0000

Im getting so tired of people saying this was the damn tool bag… I mean, you have to be really really stupid if you think our gravitational pull is that strong, to force an object to fall at that great of a speed… I didn’t even go to College and I know that.. and there will almost defiantly be at least 1 salvageable piece from it, just cause you cant see it glowing, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.

This was perhaps one of the Greatest Meteorites that I have ever seen, or will ever see. I thank the Peace Officer whom had his dash cam on, for the great video of it falling to the earth, to me, inside my house at the time, it seemed to be Lightning, but knowing better, I shoved it off as a trick of my eyes.

I am glad that this event was recorded, When I look at the dash cam video, I cant help but to feel small.. and wish even more to learn more about this rock.

Oh, and I’ve been all over Canada, Even in the Frozen North, not many Igloo’s up there either, and Everyone still says eh! The only ones whom don’t, are the ones whom would rather pretend there American, or from Ontario..

By: Kilgannon

Kilgannon — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:18:45 +0000

I’m sure most have seen it by now but here is a link to an article and the video.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/11/22/2008-11-22_video_captures_massive_meteor_as_it_ligh.html

By: mighty favog

mighty favog — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:20:31 +0000

Matt: Not sure about Florida, but I had considered the idea of atmospheric refraction that might have allowed me to see the meteor in Houston. However, even though it appeared at, as near as I can tell, precisely the same time, and had a similar light curve (bright flash at the end), it was not only to the ENE (toward Louisiana) but also appeared to be traveling downward and only slightly toward the north, meaning that it was either moving toward or away from me, ie, east or west. I had also considered that it might have been visible simply because it was very high as it started to burn; but once I saw the video shot in Canada it became clear that was not the same object. The bright terminal flash appeared very low in the sky, and I have a hard time believing that atmospheric refraction could make it appear higher in the sky from my vantage point. From the video and other witness reports, I’m now convinced there were at least two objects at 5:30, and possibly one a few minutes later in Arizona.

By: Sir Struggle

Sir Struggle — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:41:20 +0000

I saw a similar (but not nearly equal ) meteor in the mid 90′s about this time of year when the shower was supposed to be a “storm” that year. It went directly overhead north to south and even made noise. It sounded like a bottle rocket or similar firework. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the uber impressive flash at the end that this one had. I guess it just skipped off. That flash is what makes all the video so cool. It just makes you say “Why couldn’t I have been there?” followed by many curse words.

By: JB of Brisbane

JB of Brisbane — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:23:12 +0000

I apologise in advance, but someone had to say it…

“And that’s how it was for the next ten nights – a flare, bright green, drawing a green mist behind it; a beautiful, but somehow disturbing sight…”

By: Canadian fireball was NOT the ISS toolbag | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:13:32 +0000

[...] been getting email and comments on an earlier post wondering if the Canadian fireball seen on Thursday were actually the toolbag lost earlier this week by a spacewalking astronaut on [...]

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:38:51 +0000

Since Thursday, I have noticed that I have strange powers from the green rocks I picked up near the meteor crash site.

I can build an igloo in 2 milliseconds flat, drink 10 cases of Kokanee beer without getting a buzz, and run from Calgary to Edmonton in 2 minutes.

If anyone in Calgary wants bagels or smoked meat from Montreal, let me know. I’ll go for a quick run there and pick some up for you… (eh?)

Dan

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:53:33 +0000

The meteor could be seen from so far away because of atmosheric refraction. Refraction would cause any object just under the horizon to look like it was 20 degrees above the horizon. It would also magnify the object like when the sun, moon or stars are close to the horizon, eh. Take into account that meteors burn up in the methosphere (85 km above the earths surface, eh)and that Lloydminster (by all accounts the meteor exploded directly over Lloyd and therefore my house)is over 2000 feet above sea level and you will get my point. Very cool that you could see an event that happened back home while you were in Florida. There could have been 2 object but having been underneath the thing (very bright even in the house, like a nuke) I suspect it was only one.

By: mighty favog

mighty favog — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:11:26 +0000

After reading the reports of people in Louisiana, it’s becoming clear that there were at least two objects that came in around 5:30. The object I saw was ENE of Houston, which coincides with the location of people in Louisiana. At first I thought it just might be a trick of perspective from a single object when it was very high in the sky that would make it appear in that direction as it angled in and headed north, but that’s probably not very likely. Regardless, the one I saw was the most spectacular meteor I’ve seen.

By: J. D. Mack

J. D. Mack — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:06:03 +0000

Sorry I’m so late leaving a comment, but I just back back from a cruise and didn’t see this before today.

I was in Port Canaveral, Florida on Thursday. My sister and I were on the deck of the boat looking due west, when a bright blue meteor streaked across the sky. It was maybe four or five hand-widths above the horizon. Our first thought was that someone had set off a firework. It had that kind of look.

I wish I could remember what time it was. it was definitely in the evening – perhaps 8:00 or 9:00 PM.

J. D.

By: Edmonton

Edmonton — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 05:40:51 +0000

I wasn’t lucky enough to see the ball of fire but I was in Edmonton on the Anthonney Henday traveling North when I saw the sky light up. It really did look like lightening except the way it flashed, it look like something exploded. And as I recall the lights around be seemed to flicker off then on but only for a split second. Wish I would have seen it but the Videos are amayzing and someting I will never forget.

By: Cole Bump

Cole Bump — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 05:29:33 +0000

ok i must say…the people in saskatchewan saw it falling to the west…and the people in alberta saw it falling to the east…so it did hit the earth…thus it exploding when it hit the atmosphere and falling to pieces as it fell…so there is why i think it hit the earth…