Many Burlington and GTA residents were shocked out of their slumber just before 3.30 a.m. on Saturday by the sound of a loud boom.
The disturbance was that of a one-metre meteor crashing into the earth's atmosphere near Brantford.
The meteor was captured as it hurtled through the sky across Toronto by the Earth Cam trained on the CN Tower.
Many across the GTA heard the sonic boom and went looking for information on Saturday morning. Some were surprised to find their doorbell cameras had captured the image of the fireball crossing the sky.
"Something woke me, so I was tossing and checking my phone, when there was a intense loud BOOM sounding like it was hitting earth as the ground shook (and) trembled under the bed," Burlington resident Melissa Stefiszyn told BurlingtonToday. "I shot up just then both cats came racing into the bedroom. One jumped on the bed spinning, looking all around, unable to settle and the other stood in the bedroom doorway, all hair on end, looking out of the room on guard. Neither settled again."
She said her pets remained alert and that the sound seemed to carry a physical element, like a vibration that went though the house. "It gave us goosebumps," she said.
Maggie Shoen, who lives on King Road, said the blast woke her and her two dogs. "We were bolt upright," she said. "The entire house shook, as if there was an explosion nearby. I checked out front, in case there was a serious collision, but found nothing."
She said the shaking worried her as much as the noise. "I used to live in Flamborough and it reminded me of the blasting in the quarry," she said. "The sound and the shaking of my home. It was loud enough to wake me and make me check outside. The fact the house shook is what was more concerning. Where I live, someone could have drove right into my neighbour's home."
Milton resident Sarah Gorstine captured the meteor from her doorbell camera.
The meteor was flagged by the European Space Agency (ESA) prior to entering the atmosphere. The ESA tweeted it was only the sixth time that asteroid warnings systems have seen one before impact.
ESA said the small meteor became a safe fireball.
Dozens of reports were filed with the American Meteor Society last night by those who spotted the meteor, which was dubbed C8FF042 by ESA and Event 8984 by AMS. Some sightings were reported as far away as Pennsylvania but the bulk were from the GTA.
