Two more reports have come in about a meteorite seen over the Cranbrook-Kimberley area around 9:45 p.m May 12, but it’s no longer sure if the celestial object was a meteorite or a comet.

Whatever the case, the sightings by local earth-bound observers are consistent and indicate strongly that some sort of unidentified flying object flew over the region last Wednesday.

Jordan Eliason, a project manager with JSL Forum, said he came out of a meeting in Kimberley the evening of May 12 and while talking outside the building saw the meteorite brighten up the sky towards the ski hill.

“It is most likely that this was a large meteorite high up in the atmosphere. It was the second one I had seen so bright in my life. (It had) a whitish, yellow tail and then broke apart into many small pieces.”

And Eliason wasn’t the only one to see a strange flying object that night. Joan Kaun called the Daily Townsman to say she saw it too and her observations matched the previous two.

“We were out in our hot tub (in the Southview area) facing north and looking over the roof of the house and saw a flash of light and it appeared to split in two.”

Kaun said the object appeared to be going in an east to west direction and it was all over in less than two seconds.

She said it occurred around 9:30 in the evening which is consistent with the other meteorite reports.

Asked if it came close to the ground as one of the earlier observers said, Kaun said, “from my perspective, it disappeared before it got that far, but it was very bright.”

Jennifer Doering, the first observer to report the meteorite May 13, said she thought the meteorite might have came to the ground in the South Hill area around Kootenay Orchards Elementary School. She also described a very bright white light and that part of the high-flying object appeared to explode.

According to the American Meteor Society, most meteor showers have their origins with comets.

Every time a comet swings by the sun, it produces great amounts of meteoroid-size particles that eventually spread out along the entire orbit of the comet to form a meteoroid stream or “tail.”

When the earth passes through this comet tail we experience a meteor shower with the tiny pieces of the comet lighting up in a white stream as they encounter the earth’s atmosphere.

Few of these tiny pieces that are largely made up of dust or ice ever hit the ground, but when they do they’re called a meteor. So what was it, comet or meteor? If you also saw last Wednesday’s celestial phenomena, call this reporter at: 426-5201 Ext. 220 or email gerry@dailytownsman.com.