American Meteor Society (AMS)<\/a>, a non-profit scientific organization for amateur and professional astronomers, it was very likely a meteor.<\/p>\nIn his post to the site, Comox resident Jim. S was sure it was a bolide, the word for an an exceptionally bright meteor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was larger, brighter and much closer than any meteor I have ever observed.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the reports on the AMS site, the fireball direction of travel appeared to be north, into the mountains.<\/p>\n
As well as the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland regions, sightings were reported from as far away as Comox on Vancouver Island and Clinton in Washington State, just north of Seattle.<\/p>\n
Among the 17 eyewitness accounts posted to the AMS website, B.C. resident Lee-Ann W., a longtime star gazer and meteor shower watcher, described it as \u201cthe coolest thing I\u2019ve ever seen in the night sky.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so lucky to have witnessed what I truly believe, was a big, bright, red fireball. I thought maybe it was a flare at first, but it was so large and bright that didn\u2019t make sense. I then thought it was a plane in trouble, on fire and it was about to crash as it came over the mountain, and traveling downwards, but there was no sound, no flashing lights, just silence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other witnesses reported there was a delay between seeing the flashing light of the fireball and the sonic boom.<\/p>\n
Port Coquitlam resident Simon Hardy-Francis, who posted a video to the AMS website, reported seeing flashes of light, then hearing a loud boom three minutes later, with local seismographs reacting \u201cat exactly 9:12.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Merritt, Candice W. enthused it was \u201cincredible and felt like such a once in a lifetime experience and I\u2019ll never forget it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Another Merritt resident, Ryan T. called it \u201csuper cool! [The] second time I\u2019ve seen a decent-sized green meteor burning across the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Facebook, there were sightings reported in Langley, Surrey and North Delta. Aldergrove resident Jessika Houston described how \u201cmy house trembled and a boom went off so loud that I heard it inside my house and noted the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
It appeared the meteor burned up before it could hit the ground. There were no reports of damage.<\/p>\n