Blazing Meteor Captured on Video

A streaking meteor that that recently appeared 100 times brighter than a full moon was caught on video camera, scientists announced last week.

As the fireball plunged into Earth's atmosphere on the evening of Sept. 25, it was detected by cameras at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Footage shows that the meteor, roughly the size of a tricycle, was moving at a speed of 13 miles per second (75,317 kph) as it traveled over southern Ontario.?

An analysis of data gathered from the system?s records, meteor radar, and infrasound equipment suggest the meteor was large enough to have left behind fragments near the Niagara Peninsula. The debris may weigh as much as several kilograms.

Researchers are interested in hearing from anyone who may have witnessed, recorded this event or found any of the meteorite fragments.

?This particular meteorite fall, if any are found, is very important because its arrival was so well recorded," said Phil McCausland, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Western Ontario?s Centre for Planetary Science & Exploration. "We have good camera records as well as radar and infrasound detections of the event, so that it will be possible to determine its orbit prior to collision with the Earth and to determine the energy of the fireball event. We can also figure out where it came from and how it got here, which is rare. In all of history, only about a dozen meteorite falls have that kind of record.?

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