Meteor lights up skies over Western Canada

Fireball would rank among the year’s sky highlights, expert says

CALGARY, Alberta - A massive ball of fire that lit up the skies over two Western Canadian provinces on Thursday evening was likely among the biggest meteor events to be witnessed in Canada this year, one expert said.

The fireball, which streaked through the darkening skies over Alberta and Saskatchewan at about 5:30 p.m. Calgary time, likely weighed between 1 and 10 tons and shone brightly enough to be seen over an area 435 miles (700 kilometers) wide.

"It was somewhere between the size of a chair to the size of a desk," said Alan Hildebrand, a planetary scientist at the University of Calgary and a coordinator of a fireball reporting service.

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