'Huge fireball': Meteor streaks over Vancouver Island sky
A cosmic show lit up both the skies over Vancouver Island as well as social media Sunday evening.
People started reporting seeing what they believed was a meteor streaking over the island headed south around 5 p.m. Some believed it may have actually come down on a mountain near Port Alberni.
Michelle Dick was in Port Alberni in a lineup of vehicles picking up turkey dinners and was sending live Facebook updates about the event when a meteor passed overhead.
"I was keeping people entertained and actually it was more than what I had expected," she says.
Dick believes the celestial event happened around 5:40 p.m. and was witnessed by others in the lineup around her. But, nobody else had captured the object on video.
"It was kind of crazy. The camera on my phone is not that great but in person it was humungous, it was like a great big huge fireball," Dick says.
Her recollection about the timing of the event differs from that of Campbell River’s Sean Mark who captured an object paralleling his route along the South Island Highway in the Willow Point area.
His dashcam shows a meteor appearing in the cloudless sky above Campbell River and then heading down the island. His posting on Facebook says it was the "coolest thing ever."
The timestamp on his video shows 5:23 p.m., but in another online posting he estimates it took place at 5:01 p.m.
Maya Cotton tells CTV News she was in a hot tub with friends when a bright orange, green, blue and white light went from east to west over them in North Saanich.
Cotton says two minutes later they heard a giant boom and rumble.
The meteor actually appeared to make a hissing noise as it crossed over their field of view, says Cotton.
The differences in times and actions of the meteor could come from the possibility that people were seeing different meteors.
According to NASA, we are currently in a peak viewing time for the Geminid meteor shower which happens at this time of year.
Watts believes the meteor she spotted was heading south and she’s seen social media posts that it may have hit Mount Arrowsmith, though the one she saw was far away from the mountain.
Regardless, she’s thrilled at being able to see the event.
"To catch it on video and to actually just see it, it was amazing to see and it was a clear blue sky," she says. "It was so clear it was amazing to see."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.