A camera at the UTSC Observatory captured video of a meteor that streaked through the night sky above southern Ontario at 7:23 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 24.
As a part of a network of cameras established by Western University, U of T Scarborough keeps a camera trained on the sky 24 hours a day. The fisheye lens camera is one of 19 placed throughout southern Ontario for the purpose of tracking meteors.
By analyzing footage captured by 12 of the cameras that detected the fireball scientists at Western predict that meteorites may have landed between Saint Joseph and Crediton, Ontario.
“This fireball was particularly significant because it ended very low in the atmosphere just to the north of Grand Bend, a good indicator that material survived. In fact, it was still producing light at 24 kilometres altitude,” said Peter Brown, a meteor expert for the Southern Ontario Meteor Network, in a press release.
Western’s scientists say that the steep angle of entry and relatively low entry speed of 13 km/s suggest a high probability of material reaching the ground. The meteor, which was several kilograms in mass, would have broken in to fragments weighing up to several hundred grams.
Brown says the study of these meteors is important, as they offer hints at how our solar system formed. The researchers are encouraging anyone in the region to search for meteorites in their neighbourhood, they recommended wrapping any retrieved material in foil to preserve its scientific value.