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Object Lights Night Sky Across Canadian Prairies

clarkn0va writes "Witnesses as far as 720 kilometers apart reported seeing what looked like a bright meteor falling somewhere on the Saskatchewan-Alberta boundary around 5:30 pm MT Thursday, according to the CBC. Here's video of the incident as seen from Edmonton."

24 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Quick Poll by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 3, Funny

    Was it:

    1. An Autobot
    2. Precursor to an asteroid the size of Texas
    3. CowboyNeal
    1. Re:Quick Poll by kachakaach · · Score: 4, Informative

      If it reaches the ground, it's called a meteorite.

    2. Re:Quick Poll by dranga · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think it was somebody's tool bag burning up on re-entry.

      --
      Oh no, not again.
  2. finally by steak · · Score: 5, Funny

    the aurora borealis shows its true face. the "northern lights" have lulled the canuckians into a false sense of security and now they are ready to attack.

  3. Bullshit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Meteor my ass. More cover-up about the fucking space bugs now running our world. Christ, as if GWB wassn't proof enough.

  4. It's probably that tool bag by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Funny

    that what's-her-name dropped from the ISS.

    1. Re:It's probably that tool bag by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Funny

      I was thinking that missing spider, after being exposed to radiation from solar flares while in a hard vacuum, finally returned to earth.

      And it's mad.

  5. Triangulate! Triangulate! by arth1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With many reports coming in about what direction the object was seen in, can't one simply disregard any wild guesses as to how close it was, and just draw vectors based on the directions of the observers? With this many observers, one should quickly be able to pinpoint the flash, and where to look for meteorites.

  6. thursday?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Filmed about 5:30pm Thursday November 20th 2008

    This happened 2 days ago and it's just now making it on /.?

    The world could have ended and we'd have to wait 2 days before it makes it on here.

    1. Re:thursday?? by penginkun · · Score: 2, Funny

      Slashdot never could get the hang of Thursdays.

    2. Re:thursday?? by Kohath · · Score: 4, Funny

      If it's any consolation, it'll probably be posted several more times before next Thursday.

  7. Missed this completely by tzhuge · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I first saw video of this on the local news, I had a hard time figuring out how I missed the entire sky being lit up like that. Then I realized that, as a slashdotter, I was naturally indoors at that time in the afternoon. The basement habitat is not conductive to observing astronomical events.... I think I will have to put a webcam on the roof.

  8. It was... by Tastecicles · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...a weather balloon.

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    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  9. PM? by DarrenBaker · · Score: 2, Informative

    I believe 05:30 MT is 5:30 AM MT, not PM.

  10. There's only one logical explanation... by SIR_Taco · · Score: 2, Funny

    The mutant space spiders have arrived much sooner than expected. NASA has doomed us all!

    I, for one, welcome our new mutant space arachnid overlords

    --
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    1. Re:There's only one logical explanation... by edalytical · · Score: 4, Funny

      Too bad they caught fire on atmospheric entry. But yeah.

      I, for one, welcome our new burnt-to-a-crisp-exploded-on-impact-mutant-space-arachnid-overlords.

      --
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  11. I saw it from the SF Bay Area by Matt+Perry · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I saw it this past week. I was leaving work and turned north out of the parking lot and it was shooting across the sky to the west. It was very green. I remember that much. If this thing landed in Canada then it must have been huge for me to see it from California.

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    1. Re:I saw it from the SF Bay Area by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 4, Informative

      Matt, there was a forecast meteor shower that peaked on Tuesday morning. At about 5:40 AM Tuesday morning I saw a bright meteor over Oakland airport from the central parking lot. At about 6:45 PM Wednesday I saw another looking South in Las Vegas.

  12. Fireballs better than piddly shooting stars. by Cruciform · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've seen a lot of "shooting stars" in my time, but they don't compare at all to seeing a meteor fireball like this.
    I managed to see two in a one month period back in 2001, when leaving the office at 330-430 at night. (London, Ontario, August 20th for the first one)

    One was silent, but the other one roared like a jet shortly after it passed. I assumed that the second one was smaller but appeared the same size because it was much closer, hence the sound.

    Moments like that make me wish we had the ability to capture our memories digitally for playback.

  13. Re:Triangulate! Triangulate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    With many reports coming in about what direction the object was seen in, can't one simply disregard any wild guesses as to how close it was, and just draw vectors based on the directions of the observers? With this many observers, one should quickly be able to pinpoint the flash, and where to look for meteorites.

    Ok, I'll start. It was traveling left to right and appeared to land, oh maybe, 100-150km away a little (10-20 degrees) to my right.

    With a few more reports like this we should be able to pinpoint the impact to within a few meters.

    ;-)

  14. Re:UFO by Kagura · · Score: 3, Informative

    No. I have never seen Iridium flares. The only satellites I have seen are constantly moving dots of light with non-varying brightness. They look exactly like a star moving in a straight line at around the speed you would imagine an airplane to move at high altitude a great distance away. Here is a random link showing 75 different satellites that happened to be observed over a nine-day period.

    Here is a video of a great Iridium flare, and here is a video of a not-quite-so-great Iridium flare.

  15. BLAME CANADA! by religious+freak · · Score: 2, Funny

    At last George Bush's final master stroke just weeks before his term ends - the invasion of Canada.

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  16. Re:Triangulate! Triangulate! by MachDelta · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They're already working on it. Reports have come in from as far away as British Columbia. Lots of people saw it in cities all over Alberta and Saskatchewan. Assuming they can get a good vector from the two major population centers that saw it (Edmonton and Saskatoon), finding it should be possible given enough time. They already have it narrowed down to somewhere in the south of Lloydminster, east of Wainwright, north of Provost, west of Cut Knife area. Granted that is a massive area (something the size of Yellowstone National park) but with futher refinements they'll come closer and closer. The real problem at this point is racing against the first snowfall that sticks. The area is having an unusually warm start to winter and snow could come any week. Once that happens the chances of finding any meteorite remains diminish considerably.

  17. This is hardly unique these days. . . by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We've been having a lot of this sort of thing lately. --Not all of them get this much notice, or accurate coverage. --There was a report of a 'plane' going down over some American town a week or so back, creating a huge aerial show and loud bang, putting the residents and authorities into a tizzy. --The only thing was that no planes were reported missing and they didn't find any wreckage.

    I half suspect when we get one of the big ones that the PTB will have chutzpah to call it a terrorist nuke if they can get away with it.

    A skimming of noted events for October. . .

    Astronomy enthusiast Howard Edin reports that he was looking in the opposite direction at the time, but saw the whole observing field light up and at first thought someone had turned on their car headlights.

    Reports came from residents from Carmel Valley to Salinas of a fireball shooting through the Tuesday night sky and hitting the Earth. A sheriff's deputy patrolling Carmel Valley saw it and thought enough of it to call for reinforcements.

    IT appeared against the early evening sky like a flare - moments later roofs rattled and verandas shook as it crashed to earth.

    [...]The Evening Telegraph has been inundated with calls and e-mails from readers who saw a strange fireball cutting a swath across the heavens[...]

    For the second time this year, The University of Western Ontario Meteor Group has captured incredibly rare video footage of a meteor falling to Earth.

    A bright light sped across the sky, followed by a loud explosion. Osborne County Sheriff Curtis Miner tells KSAL News that it was not an unidentified flying object, or anything sinister. It was a large meteor.

    -FL