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Many residents in Western Canada witnessed a massive fireball streak through the sky early Monday morning.
The fireball was recorded by several east-facing security cameras in places like Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon around 6:30 am.
That meteor was a little close pic.twitter.com/pKCREjh0gB
— JoshuaKayne (@JoshuaKayne_) February 22, 2021
A view of the meteor from near Lloydminster. Caught by my security cameras. #meteor #AlbertaCanada pic.twitter.com/PdYN1UfNGE
— Sarah Bergquist (@sarah_bergquist) February 22, 2021
Meteor caught on security cam in Red Deer this morning video sent by Carmen Winter pic.twitter.com/g00yEgWUYw
— Brandon Houck (@HouckisPokisewx) February 22, 2021
Chris Herd, a meteorite expert and professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, later confirmed the fireball was a meteor.
The "fireball" classification comes when a meteor's flash is particularly bright, usually caused by the immense heat gained by the object while travelling through the atmosphere.
Meteorites are not dangerous, but if recovered, they should be handled as little as possible to help preserve their scientific value.
If you caught the #fireball (#meteor) at 6:23 am in #yeg area today, best place to report it is https://t.co/Ws5yHhUkeI. We're checking our cameras to see if we caught it - stay tuned!
— Chris Herd (@SpaceRockDoc) February 22, 2021
It should also be noted that in Canada, meteorites belong to the owner of the land upon which they are found.
Anyone who saw or captured a video of the meteor is encouraged to submit their information to the American Meteor Society’s Report a Fireball site.