‘Bright fireball’ spotted in York Region, more than 30 reported sightings across Ontario

CP24’s Melissa Duggan speaks with Western University’s Peter Brown for more about a possible meteor sighting over southern Ontario early Wednesday morning.

A meteor was captured on video streaking across Ontario’s skies early Wednesday morning, a sight one professor described as “unusual.”

In one video sent to CTV News Toronto, a meteoroid is seen passing overhead at twilight.

Frank Girmenia, the driver whose dashcam captured the video, said he was driving to work at approximately 5:10 a.m. on Ninth Line, south of Bloomington, in Whitchurch-Stouffville, when he saw the flash of light.

Peter Brown, an astronomy professor at the University of Western Ontario, told CP24 that what people saw was a “pretty bright fireball, which is a really bright meteor.”

Brown said the fireball came in over Lake Erie and landed in upstate New York.

He added that it came from the main asteroid belt and was moving “50 times the speed of sound” and was roughly the size of a softball.

“It took a long time to get here, but it ended its life spectacularly in southern Ontario,” Brown said.

The American Meteor Society lists more than 30 sightings of the event in Ontario, with reports from Toronto, Mississauga, Burlington, Pickering, and St. Catharines.