© Joanne BuchanThe fireball was seen from Waterloo, Ontario on Monday, Aug. 19, 2013.
Multiple viewers in the neighbourhood sent in photos and video of a flaming object moving through the sky shortly before 8 p.m.
Aaron Coker was walking out of his Glen Forrest Boulevard apartment when he saw the mystery object to the south.
"I saw something coming out of the sky," he says.
"It appeared to be a plane at first. After a minute, it decided to dip down and hang in the sky for about 10 minutes without moving."
© Joanne BuchanA University of Waterloo astronomer says this mystery object seen over Waterloo, Ont., was likely a plane or piece of debris.
"At first, I thought it was a plane's contrail catching the setting sun, but it was moving too slowly ... and it looked to be heading straight down," she wrote in an email.
The object appeared to hang in the air for about 15 to 20 minutes before falling out of view.Mike Hudson, an astronomy professor at the University of Waterloo, says the object could have been a fallen piece of an airplane or satellite, but more likely was a plane taking an eccentric path through the air.
"My best guess of what this might be is a plane flying, leaving contrails behind it, seen perhaps at an unusual angle," he tells CTV News.
Hudson suggests the object may have been moving horizontally when it appeared to hang in the air, and its unusual colour scheme may have been due to illumination from the setting sun.
Although many unusual sights in the sky turn out to be meteors, Hudson says he doesn't believe a meteor was the culprit behind Monday's event, as meteors usually move in a straight line at a constant, fast speed.
Comment: And so did this object. What the 'expert' is really befuddled by is its slow speed. If something is high up in the atmosphere, it will appear to be moving very slowly across the sky.
"Interesting things happen in the sky all the time," he says.
... apart from the hanging part that is which could be due to horizontal flight. It is not celestial - far too slow.