A fireball lit up the sky over Chatham-Kent on Friday night, February 26, 2021.
Peter Brown, a meteor scientist and planetary astronomer at the University of Western Ontario, tweeted that a fireball “as bright as full moon” passed directly over Chatham, Ontario at 10:07 p.m.
Brown said the fireball ended at 30 km in height, just north of Lake St. Clair near Fair Haven, Michigan.
Brown said it was fast, travelling at 30 km/s, so it was “very small” and no meteorites were likely.
The NASA All-Sky Fireball Network said the fireball first appeared above Erieau.
“Observers in Ontario, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania report seeing a bright fireball on February 26 at 10:07 p.m.,” the group stated on their website.
“This event was captured by several all sky meteor cameras belonging to the NASA All Sky Fireball Network and the Southern Ontario Meteor Network operated by Western University. A first analysis of the video data shows that the meteor appeared 90 km (56 miles) above Erieau on the northern shore of Lake Erie. It moved northwest at a speed of 105,800 kilometers per hour (65,800 miles per hour), crossing the U.S./Canada border before ablating 32 kilometers (20 miles) above Fair Haven, Michigan.”
NASA All-Sky Fireball Network officials say the orbit of the object is low inclination (8 degrees with respect to the ecliptic) and has an aphelion out near the orbit of Jupiter and a perihelion between the orbits of Mercury and Venus.
“It suggests that the meteor was caused by a fragment of a Jupiter family comet, though an asteroidal origin is also possible,” the group stated.
“At its brightest, the fireball rivaled the quarter Moon in intensity. Combining this with the speed gives the fragment a mass of at least two kilograms and a diameter of approximately 12 centimeters (five inches).”
A map, provided by the NASA All-Sky Fireball Network, shows the path of the fireball going directly through Chatham, by Wallaceburg and through Walpole Island, before going across the border to the United States. Have a look below:
More details and videos can be seen, here.
