A dazzling flash and thunderous boom spotted and heard by residents of British Columbia on Tuesday night were attributed to a meteor streaking through the Earth’s atmosphere, experts have confirmed.
According to Robert Lunsford from the American Meteor Society, the occurrence was classified as a “fireball,” denoting a meteor larger and brighter than usual. Lunsford noted that typical meteors are merely the size of a pea but can be visible due to their high velocity.
“The brightness of a fireball can rival that of a full moon, even if the meteor is as small as a softball,” Lunsford explained in a statement. He further indicated that the rapid flash precluded the possibility of human-made space debris, confirming it as a natural fireball composed of stone, metal, or a blend of both materials.
Meteorologist and science reporter for CBC News, Johanna Wagstaffe, suggested that the event likely resulted from a meteor entering the atmosphere. She pointed out that local seismographs recorded a spike around 9:10 p.m. PT, while the sonic boom indicated the meteor’s rapid traversal through the atmosphere.
Wagstaffe highlighted the rarity of meteor sightings in the western part of North America, emphasizing the significance of such celestial occurrences. She explained that a sonic boom is generated when an object moves through the upper atmosphere at high speeds, compressing and heating the air in its path.
NASA, in a statement to The Canadian Press, confirmed the reports of the meteor over the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday evening. Based on data from the American Meteor Society and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite, NASA stated that the meteor became visible around 98 kilometers above Coquitlam, B.C., traveling northeast at a speed of approximately 33 kilometers per second.
The meteor covered about 71 kilometers through the upper atmosphere before disintegrating at an altitude of roughly 65 kilometers above Greenmantle Mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park. University of British Columbia astronomy professor Brett Gladman noted that the fireball was observed from various locations, signifying a wide-reaching event.
Gladman indicated that the fireball likely resulted from a rocky asteroid fragment entering the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the surrounding gases to glow and creating the audible boom due to the object surpassing the speed of sound. He mentioned the challenge of locating any surviving fragments, given the mountainous and forested terrain where the meteor appeared to descend.