Mysterious flash and boom west of Montreal may have been a meteor

A bright flash of light was spotted in the sky west of Montreal Tuesday night, followed by a boom that was heard and felt all the way from Motreal to Ottawa, causing many to wonder if a meteor exploded in the area.

Social media lit up with reports of a possible explosion in western Montreal around 8 p.m. Tuesday.

According to CTV Montreal, calls to police prompted officers to be dispatched to Vaudreuil to investigate, but no cause was found. CBC News is reporting that the sound and shaking were reported all the way to Ottawa.

Andrew Fazekas, an astronomy expert and member of the Royal Astronomical Society who spoke with both CTV and CBC, wrote on his website: "This may be signs of a meteor event and could indicate the stone — which could be anywhere in size from a sofa to compact car — may have fragmented with some bits making it to the ground."

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With the major snowstorm passing through eastern Ontario and Quebec tonight, if it was a meteor streaking through the atmosphere, it's unlikely that anyone would have seen anything directly. Most meteor and fireball explosions happen far up in the atmosphere. For example, the Chelyabinsk meteor, back in mid-February, exploded at roughly 23 kilometres above the ground, at more than twice the height that your average passenger airliner flies.

Experts will be investigating, tracking eyewitness reports and examining any photographs or videos that may have captured the event. If you witnessed it, you can submit a report to the American Meteor Society (click here), or to the Meteorites and Impacts Advisory Committee in Canada (click here).

(Photo courtesy Science@NASA)

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