What was it?

[Julia]

On Saturday Oct 9 at shortly after 6am(EST) my father and I saw something that made us both a little confused. We were looking northwest and were ourselves 40 miles north of Sault Ste Marie, ON. We both thought we spotted a shooting star but the object did not behave as a shooting star. It started in the North relatively close to the horizon. It was very bright, it appeared to break up and be followed by sparks(orange in colour), it continued towards the west. Near the end of the path it broke up again and then there was a bright flash of white as it disappeared. The part that we both found very peculiar was that it seemed to move at an incline away from the horizon. It lasted long enough that I watched for a bit and then pointed to make sure my father had also seen it. We watched it for 3-5 seconds. Do you have any idea what this was?

[Chris Peterson]

On Saturday Oct 9 at shortly after 6am(EST) my father and I saw something that made us both a little confused. We were looking northwest and were ourselves 40 miles north of Sault Ste Marie, ON. We both thought we spotted a shooting star but the object did not behave as a shooting star. It started in the North relatively close to the horizon. It was very bright, it appeared to break up and be followed by sparks(orange in colour), it continued towards the west. Near the end of the path it broke up again and then there was a bright flash of white as it disappeared. The part that we both found very peculiar was that it seemed to move at an incline away from the horizon. It lasted long enough that I watched for a bit and then pointed to make sure my father had also seen it. We watched it for 3-5 seconds. Do you have any idea what this was?

From your description, this sounds like a fireball- a bright meteor. A meteor, as seen from a single location, can appear to move at any angle with respect to the horizon.

There is a network of meteor cameras southeast of you, run by UWO. I haven't seen any reports of fireballs from them, but they might be a bit out of range of a fireball you saw low to your north.

[BMAONE23]

It sounds to me like what you saw was a Bolide

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Chris Peterson]

It sounds to me like what you saw was a Bolide...

That term is increasingly avoided by meteor researchers. Whereas fireball has a formal IAU definition, bolide does not, and the latter is used in different ways when referring to meteors and to impacts.

Best to just describe bright meteors as fireballs, and then modify this as necessary to describe details, such as fragmentation, terminal explosion, etc.

[Julia]

Thanks, That video definitely looked like what I saw except there was a little more orange in the thing I saw. When you, Chris, said that meteors can move in any direction with respect to the horizon it made sense because I have seen many shooting stars further from the horizon move in different directions. The proximity to the horizon of this one was made it seem weird. Are fireballs very common?

[Chris Peterson]

Thanks, That video definitely looked like what I saw except there was a little more orange in the thing I saw. When you, Chris, said that meteors can move in any direction with respect to the horizon it made sense because I have seen many shooting stars further from the horizon move in different directions. The proximity to the horizon of this one was made it seem weird. Are fireballs very common?

I record fireballs several times a week from any one location. That is, meteors brighter than Venus. Really bright, fragmenting fireballs I record perhaps once or twice a month. But since they only last a few seconds, they are rarely seen by many people. So most people won't see more than one or two in their life- although people who spend a lot of time looking at the sky, such as amateur astronomers, are likely to see quite a few.

Fragmenting meteors like this are the sort likely to drop meteorites. But when you see them near the horizon, they are a couple hundred kilometers away, sometimes more. The interesting ones are directly overhead, but those are the ones people are most likely to miss, since they don't spend much time looking straight up.

[starman]

A few years back I was travelling by bus from the rural village where I live into Norwich (UK). It was December and the sky was dark (about 7.30pm local time). Suddenly the whole sky became virtually day-bright for a few seconds. I can remember saying to the bus driver "either that was a meteorite or we've got four minutes to live". The meteorite actually came down about 40km East, in the North Sea.

[Céline Richard]

Hello
How the whole sky could become day-bright for a few seconds, because of a meteorite?
How can this happen, i mean where does this sudden light come from, at night?
Have a very good day!
Céline

[Chris Peterson]

Hello :)
How the whole sky could become day-bright for a few seconds, because of a meteorite?
How can this happen, i mean where does this sudden light come from, at night?

A large meteor can release enough energy to be as bright as the Sun for a few seconds. The energy comes from the conversion of kinetic energy (the meteoroid can be fairly massive, and very fast) to radiant energy.

[Céline Richard]

Thank you a lot, Chris, for your answer:)
Now, the situation doesn't seem to be science fiction anymore.
Moreover, if i look at a meteorite one day, thus i will be able to explain why the sky becomes white:)
Céline