Initial Sighting Reports

15 November 2012 - Edsel. London, Ontario 06:40 EST

5 seconds duration - Traveling north west. It looked greenish in color. As bright as a full moon. I could see a tail with debris as it flared out in the sky.

15 November 2012 - Kevin. Monumental, West Virginia 06:40 EST

3 seconds duration - SE to NW direction. I was facing West. White/green color, no sound. Bright enough to be seen during daylight. Yes, I saw sparks.

15 November 2012 - Brian. Dayton, Ohio, USA 06:42 EST

5 seconds duration - Northeast to west. I was facing Northeast. White color at first, then green - no sound. Venus brightness. Trail of sparks visible. It looked like a star at first but I noticed it was moving very fast and then before I knew it, it was almost right above me and faded out as sparks streamed off the back and the flame turned green.

There was an unexpected sight in the sky Thursday morning for some 680News listeners, who called the newsroom to say they believe they saw an asteroid of meteor shooting over the sky around 6:45 a.m.

One listener named Sherry said she was waiting for a coffee when she saw a very bright light that caught her eye.

"You know how the North Star is really bright and big. From where I was looking it was five times bigger than that from the naked eye; it was huge, it was massive," Sherry said.

Although it's not yet confirmed, an astrophysicist and lecturer with the University of Toronto isn't doubting what people saw, and he too, is pretty sure it was a meteor.

"The 680News report that I got from a woman that I heard this morning, that sounded like there be some real meat to it," Dr. Ian Shelton said.

Initial Sighting Reports Indicate TWO Meteor Events

05 November 2012 - Melanie Downey, Leominster, MA 20:42:00

4 secs duration - North to south. Bright white, including trail. Brighter than Venus, remained bright for 3 secs until it trailed off.

05 November 2012 - Kathy, White Plains, NY, US 20:35 EST

Approximately 3-5 seconds duration - I was driving West and noticed a large white ball, traveling possibly from N-E towards S-W. I was in a car, so I didn't hear anything. Bright as Venus... had a bring white tail following it. It was awesome.

Initial Sighting Reports

08 November 2012 - Sarah, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada 21:12:00

Approx 4 secs duration - Western trajectory. Large, white, bright ball falling and the faded out moon... had what looked like a tail, it faded out slowly and was very big.

08 November 2012 - Braeden Miller, Tottenham, ON, Canada 21:07:00

3 secs duration - Facing north, went down to the left. Yellow sparks, brighter than the moon. Noticed it while inside watching TV. Looked similar to a sparkler. Was the brightest meteor I've ever seen. It surprised and startled me. Seemed to last a few seconds.

08 November 2012 Rick Lash, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 21:05:00

5 seconds duration - Facing north, traveling overhead, down toward northern horizon. Green colour, bright as Venus. Not obviously bearing straight downward.

Initial Sighting Reports

08 November 2012 Dawn, Kissimmee, Florida 21:00:00

5-10 seconds duration - Facing north, [it passed overhead] on my right. Primarily red ( fire tail ), very bright... moving fast, disintegrated. This was very large and very bright! Moving fast with long fire tail... amazing!

08 November 2012, Dee, Asheville, NC 8:50pm est

5 sec duration - E-W direction. Facing south. Light green hue. From 300ft saw fall area, 14 acre empty area.

08 November 2012 - William Mull, Maiden, NC, USA 20:40:00

2.5 sec duration - E-W direction. Facing south. Bright white, very bright. Long tail. It appeared to be on a downward trajectory. One of the largest I personally have ever seen.

08 November 2012 - Love Dearth, Spring Hill, FL, USA 8:40 PM Eastern Standard

3-5 seconds duration - E-W direction, right to left. Facing North. Bright looking ball with good trail. Looked awfully close. No noise. As bright as the moon. Either largest or closest I have ever seen.

Initial Sighting Reports

08 November 2012 - Tim Hunter, Fort Collins, CO., USA 11:30 pm MST

4-7 seconds duration - Direction was from Southwest to Northeast. Very bright, [like a] cutting torch.

08 November 2012 - April Medley, Clovis, New Mexico, USA 23:00 Mountain Time

20 seconds duration - Started above my house, went from South to North, I was facing North. White flash then saw a large falling "fireball" which had many large and visible fragments, latent visual trail was visible for about 20 seconds. Very unusual and large, seemed close. 5 minutes later I heard a large "boom" in the direction the body traveled. White light like other stars but brighter than all others I could see.

Some Calgarians with their eye on the sky early Monday morning may have witnessed a brief but bright meteor.

It happened around 5:30 a.m. on November 5th, and was captured on camera by Don Hladiuk, an astronomer at the Calgary Science Centre.

Traffic on Deerfoot Trail even slowed to view the rare sight.

Meteor hunters say they have found two more remnants of the streaking fireball that lit up California skies last month.

The latest find - reported on Thursday - was also in the San Francisco Bay area city of Novato and brings the total number of chunks of rock that fell from the Oct. 17 meteor explosion to four. The meteorites are known as metal chondrites because they contain microscopic metal particles called chondrules.

The exploding streak was especially visible over the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of Northern California, with reports of a bright fireball and loud boom from Santa Cruz County to Mendocino County.

Warm temperatures and cloud-free skies made the bright light more visible.

Source: The Associated Press

Arlington, Washington - Halloween proved to be an interesting night for law enforcement in at least four Western Washington counties after reports of a meteor falling to Earth.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said deputies investigated a possible meteor falling somewhere near I-5 and Exit 212, between Stanwood and Arlington.

K9 Officers also responded, but nothing was found.

Deputies cleared the scene, but said they "assume it is a meteor, unless we hear otherwise."

An Arlington police officer confirmed seeing something fall from the sky.

The Federal Aviation Administration said they also fielded calls from people who reported they saw a meteor.

So far, nothing has been found.

The American Meteor Society has received over 60 reports of a bright meteor that occurred near 06:10 CDT on Tuesday morning October 30, 2012, over the southern mid-western states. Reports were received as far south as Alabama and Louisiana, as far north as Illinois, as far east as Kentucky and Tennessee, and as far west as Texas and Oklahoma. Brightness estimates of this fireball vary considerably, but the average lies near magnitude -13, which is equivalent to the light produced by the full moon. Several colors have been reported with green being the most predominant. Summaries of individual reports may be viewed in the 2012 AMS Fireball Table Refer to event #1677 for 2012.

We are near the peak time of year for Taurid meteors, which are known to produce colorful fireballs. Bill Cooke of the NASA Meteoroid Environments Office reports that this fireball was most likely a member of the Taurid meteor shower, which is active during October and November. He provides the following details: