A meteor of less than one meter flew over southern Ontario early Saturday morning. This is the sixth time in history that an asteroid has been detected before impact.
Spectacular videos captured a meteor lighting up the sky over Niagara Falls and the CN Tower in Toronto. The “less than a meter” object, named #C8FF042, turned “into a ball of fire”, confirmed the European Space Agency.
From Hamilton to Oakville, citizens reported on social media being woken up by a loud explosion.
“We heard a loud bang shortly before 3:30 a.m., as if dynamite had exploded nearby, and the house shook for about 5 seconds,” wrote one user.
An impending impact warning had been issued hours before the meteor entered the atmosphere, alerting astronomy experts and enthusiasts.
This is the sixth time global warning systems have detected an asteroid before impact, according to the European Space Agency. The last time was in March, when a meteor was detected in Hungary before hitting the ground near Greenland.
It is estimated that between 40 and 100 tons of space matter hit Earth every day, most of it in the form of very small particles. Larger objects strike it an average of ten times a year.
However, most of the asteroids that have struck Earth were discovered several years or even millions of years after their impact, reads the Agency’s website. But our ability to detect them is “improving rapidly”.