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last mo.

NASA Details Meteor Over Metro Vancouver That Generated Fireball and Sonic Boom

Investigators are using eyewitness, seismic, satellite data to map the path, with checks underway for possible meteorites.

A meteor burns up in the sky north of Kuwait City on Dec. 15, 2023.
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The flash from what appears to be a meteor lit up the sky over B.C.'s South Coast on Tuesday night.
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Overview

  • NASA says the object became visible about 98 km above Coquitlam, travelled roughly 71 km, and disintegrated around 65 km above Greenmantle Mountain.
  • The agency estimates a speed near 33 km/s (about 119,000 km/h), roughly 100 times the speed of sound.
  • Two bright flashes around 9:08 p.m. were followed minutes later by one or two loud booms felt from Metro Vancouver into Washington state.
  • Natural Resources Canada reports local seismometers clearly recorded the shock and confirms the signal was not an earthquake.
  • The American Meteor Society and International Meteor Organization logged multiple fireball reports as webcams and a NOAA GOES‑18 detection captured the flash, aiding trajectory reconstruction.