cp24.com

Residents across the GTA spotted a burning, bright light in the sky Friday night, prompting astronomers to suggest it was a meteor entering the area’s atmosphere.

The calls came flooding into CP24 shortly after 9 p.m. Viewers say they saw the sky light up while a green, burning ball with an orange tail travelled across the night sky. Police across the region say they were also flooded with calls.

People from Mississauga, Ajax, Collingwood and Brampton saw the object, some saying it appears to come within 200 feet of their homes.

A viewer from Ajax says she was facing west when she saw an object fly by in the sky. She said she saw it flying from the north east to the southwest corner of the city toward Lake Ontario.

CTV Toronto reporter Paul Bliss was sitting at a campfire near the QEW and Highway 427 when he saw the burning object. He said it appeared to be travelling from the west toward the east, south of where he was sitting.

Montreal astronomer Andrew Fazekas didn’t see the object, but said his website was flooded with reports of its appearance. He says it sounds as though the object was a meteor – also known as a shooting star – about the size of a basketball or a sofa.

“These things are usually the size of a grain of sand,” he added. “It would be very interesting to know if any of the rock did survive and make it to the ground. From the very spectacular description it sounds like it may have broken up.

“In a farmer’s field there could be fragments lying around that would be scientifically very important.”