By The Canadian Press

Expert says bright flash Monday likely a big space rock

Sep 6, 2017 | 6:56 AM

CALGARY —   An expert says the bright flash in the sky over parts of Western Canada Monday night was likely caused by a space rock weighing up to 10 tonnes barrelling into Earth’s atmosphere.

     The fireball was reported by people from Calgary, to Kamloops to the Okanagan Valley and the Kootenays in the B-C Interior, and in the Comox Valley, with some in southern B-C also reporting a loud boom.

     Alan Hildebrand, an associate professor of geoscience at the University of Calgary, says it’s likely the massive rock broke into chunks ranging from 10 kilograms to smaller than pea-sized.

     He says the meteorites may have landed somewhere between Slocan Lake and Arrow Lakes in the B-C Interior.