A bright flash accompanied by a loud boom observed in British Columbia on Tuesday night was caused by a meteor passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, experts have confirmed. According to Robert Lunsford from the American Meteor Society, the event was described as a “fireball,” which refers to a meteor that is larger and brighter than usual. Lunsford highlighted that while typical meteors are as small as a pea, their high speed can make them visible in the night sky.
The duration of the flash ruled out the possibility of human-made space debris, and Lunsford noted that the event was a natural fireball composed of stone, metal, or a combination of both. Meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe supported the meteor theory, citing a spike in local seismographs around 9:10 p.m. PT and explaining that the sonic boom observed is a typical indication of a meteor passing through the atmosphere.
Wagstaffe emphasized that meteor sightings are rare in western North America, making the event significant. She explained that a sonic boom occurs when an object moves through the upper atmosphere at high speeds, compressing and heating the air in front of it. While the object likely burned up upon entry, further analysis by astronomers and experts is expected to provide more details.
NASA confirmed the meteor sighting over the Pacific Northwest, reporting that it appeared above Coquitlam, B.C., at an altitude of approximately 98 kilometers. The agency stated that the meteor was traveling at a speed of around 33 kilometers per second before disintegrating at an altitude of 65 kilometers above Greenmantle Mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park.
The fireball was observed across a wide area, with reports coming in from as far as Comox to the west, Merritt to the east, and Seattle, Washington, to the south. University of British Columbia astronomy professor Brett Gladman suggested that the fireball resulted from a rocky asteroid fragment entering the Earth’s atmosphere. He explained that the visible meteor is caused by the heating of the atmosphere due to the rock’s passage, accompanied by an audible boom due to the object’s supersonic speed. Gladman noted the challenges in locating any surviving fragments due to the remote, forested location where the fireball appeared to have descended.
