It wasn鈥檛 a bird, it wasn鈥檛 a plane and it wasn鈥檛 Superman.

A Red Deer astronomer, Kevin Bilston, wonders if anyone else saw what he saw Tuesday morning.

He said he believes what he witnessed was a burning rocket or a piece of junk floating around in the atmosphere at 11:07 a.m.

The unknown fireball was bright, travelling from west to east and was visible to the naked eye.

Describing the fireball, the Rosedale resident said what he saw go past his house had a tail like comets do. But he鈥檚 positive, it wasn鈥檛 a comet or meteor.

Bilston, 60, has been following astronomy since he was 16 and has witnessed comets and meteors in his lifetime, but that鈥檚 usually at nighttime.

鈥淭he sky was completely blue and the sun was out so it was probably something else burning in our atmosphere,鈥� he said.

He said when things are sent into space, they sometimes fall back and one can catch the bits from, say, space rockets with pieces falling back into Earth.

Whatever it was, Bilston hopes it wasn鈥檛 Santa鈥檚 sleigh burning up and so do we.

mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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