Fireball lights up sky over Waterloo Region

A rare celestial event set social media all atwitter Monday night.

Dashcam video posted to Facebook shows a fireball appear in the upper right corner then streak down and to the left before disappearing just above rooftops in the distance. It happened around 7 p.m.

Orbax is a science communicator at The University of Guelph. He said if you were to spot something like a fireball, this time of year would be when it is most likely to occur.

“Right now we are in the middle of what is called the Orionids meteor shower, which occurs when the Earth travels through the debris left by Haley’s comet. That debris could just be things like pebble to dust-gain-sized particles that have come off a comet or asteroid. When those pieces go through our atmosphere they burn up.”

Orbax added that it’s not the particles hitting Earth, rather Earth hitting the particles on its orbit around the sun. That’s why they tend to occur around the same time each year.

He said while meteor showers are fairly common, you don’t often get to see a fireball. He said sometimes the debris is large enough to survive the fall from space but more often than not, they burn up well before hitting the ground.

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, there will two more meteor showers this year to enjoy: Leonids Nov. 17-18 and Geminids Dec. 13-14.