Spotted a meteor in Winnipeg? It’s likely not what you think
If you caught a glimpse of what looked like a meteor in Winnipeg skies over the last couple of days, it’s likely not what you think.
Photos have circulated across social media showing strange, cylindrical-like trails in the skies that look like meteors to some sky gazers.
Manitoba Museum Planetarium Astronomer Scott Young said he’s had several calls reporting meteor sightings that turned out to be nothing of the sort.
“I’ve had some calls where people say, ‘I saw this thing that looked like a meteor. I could see it for several minutes.’ None of them have turned out to be real meteors,” Young said.
CTV News submitted a photo of a similar sighting to Young for his analysis. He said in reality, the figure captured in the photo is likely a jet contrail – line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft exhaust fog or changes in air pressure. Young compares it to smoke that comes out of car tailpipes on a cold day.
“It looks very short because the weather conditions were such that the contrails were sort of fading away really quickly, so it didn’t like the typical one that stretches all the way across the sky. It was disappearing as the plane moved,” Young explained. “So it kind of looks like a meteor slowly moving across the sky.”
Young attributes the number of mistaken meteor sightings to the Orionid meteor shower currently happening over Manitoba. However, he says the full moon made it very difficult to spot.
“Basically, the moon right now is washing out the meteor shower, so this isn’t one that I recommend people go looking for,” he said, noting December’s Geminid meteor shower could present a better viewing opportunity.
Young said it can be tough to spot the difference between contrails and meteors, especially if the sun is lighting up the contrail from underneath. However, he said generally a meteor will glow and is not just a silhouette against a brighter sky, like a contrail. Meteors also move very quickly and are generally only visible to the human eye for a few seconds.
“A really long one might last five seconds, but anything longer than that is pretty much not a meteor,” he said.
Scott said in addition to jet contrails, folks have also mistaken the International Space Station for a meteor, which has been above Winnipeg in recent days.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Record-breaking N.B. lottery winner kept winning ticket on dresser for nearly a year
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.