Airdrie's night sky mystery may have been solved

A mysterious object that was captured by an Airdrie resident's doorbell camera on Sunday morning may have been a meteor.

According to the Calgary chapter of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), it appears that the Global Meteor Network cameras may have captured the celestial object in the sky.

"There is an event that does happen around that time on our East camera close to the horizon. If the doorbell camera is facing East, this could be what was captured," a representative RASC wrote. "It was most likely a meteor, though, as there were quite a few that night."

The Calgary chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada believes what some residents saw on Sunday night passing through the sky over Airdrie may have been a meteor. (Photo provided by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada) 

However, they underlined that they can't be certain, as the object that the Airdrie resident captured was slightly higher on the horizon.

The resident shared photos from their doorbell camera, explaining that at approximately 2:45 am., she heard what she described as 'a loud rumbling fire sound.'

"When I checked my doorbell camera, I had managed to capture this image of what appears a big ball of fire. I went outside to try to get a better picture, but it was going too fast. However, I could hear it and it looked aggressive. I wonder where it landed."

Other residents chimed in that they too heard the sound and saw it, igniting speculation of what exactly passed through the sky. Some guessed it may have been a plane, while others said that the object was moving too quickly and too loud for it to be a plane. 

David Brown, a local amateur astronomer, explained some of the differences between celestial objects in the sky.

"[A] meteorite is something that has hit the ground, [whereas] a meteor is just something that's still up there," he said. "And a shooting star is a piece of material, about the size of a grain of sand that's burnt up in the atmosphere."

Brown said that one of the celestial objects that garners the most excitement and attention from the public is fireballs. Fireballs are much larger objects, ranging from the size of a fist to an object that can cause damage.

"There was an event in Golden [British Columbia] where [it] went through the roof of a lady's house and landed next to her. That is extremely rare, but it was very useful," Brown said. "With the Global Meteor Network cameras, if the camera catches something, we can calculate the orbit of where that material came from. If it's bright enough, we can calculate where it lands and then send people to look for pieces."

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