Mary Dallimore was driving north along the Airport Parkway just before 6 a.m. after dropping her husband off at the airport when she saw it.
"There were no cars in front of me, no cars coming at me, no cars behind me and I had a clear view of the sky. It wasn't there and then it was there. It happened so fast. I saw this bright, bright, bright light go in an arc over the city, and then it just disappeared as fast as it came," Dallimore said by phone later Monday morning.
"I've never seen anything like it. It was brilliant and I hope to see something like that again."
Here's a longer video that appears to show a meteor soaring above #Ottawa-#Gatineau early this morning: https://t.co/JHIh5rMxp8 #ottnews pic.twitter.com/FFa1FCDxaP
— CBC Ottawa (@CBCOttawa) October 17, 2016
Comment: The American Meteor Society (AMS) received over 600 reports about a fireball seen over MS, GA, TN, LA, FL, AL, KY and TX on Wednesday, October 12th 2016 around 11:48 UT.
According to Mike Hankey of the AMS "This was rarer than most as it was seen early in the morning. Also several reports of big smoke cloud left behind."
The object was was first seen 65 miles above Sawyersville, Alabama and moved west at about 89,000 mile per hour. NASA said "It appears to have fragmented 41 miles above Louisville, Mississippi."