Fireball Flashes Above Ontario and Parts of the U.S.

The European Space Agency said that a fireball that flew over Ontario, Canada, early on Saturday was the sixth object to be detected in space.

In the early hours of Saturday, people in the community of professional and amateur astronomy were told that a meteorite was on its way and that they should keep their telescopes and cameras trained toward the sky.

A meteorite entered Earth's atmosphere at 3:27 a.m., according to the Minor Planet Center. The time is Eastern Standard Time.

The Minor Planet Center said that the object was detected in images taken at Mount Lemmon Survey near Tucson, Arizona.

Mike Hankey was in Maine setting up cameras to watch the sky when he received a call about a meteorite.

He said that there were messages about the meteorite.

If meteorites survive, the astronomy community wants to recover them as quickly as possible.

There were 33 reports of a fireball from people in Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ontario as of Saturday afternoon.

Some people in and near Hamilton heard a loud boom. Astronomers were able to use the reports to determine where the meteorites were likely to hit.

Mr. Hankey said that there is a chance that meteorites could be recovered in the area.

Most of the space material that hits Earth is small particles, according to the European Space Agency.

Astronomers didn't know the size of the meteorite on Saturday. A meteorite is a piece of an asteroid or comet that enters the atmosphere. A meteorite is a flaming object that crashes into the ground.

The European Space Agency says that global efforts to identify large asteroids have grown in recent years.

The agency said that since 2008, five other objects have been detected in space before they hit Earth.

The ability to detect these space objects before they hit Earth gives the authorities the chance to warn people to stay away from windows if a medium-sized meteor is expected to fly by and explode, which could break windows.