A bird? A plane? Edwin's home run? Nope. A meteor flew over Toronto Tuesday night - Action News
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Toronto

A bird? A plane? Edwin's home run? Nope. A meteor flew over Toronto Tuesday night

A meteor over the city Tuesday night around the same time the Blue Jays punched their ticket to a playoff showdown with the Texas Rangers had fans wondering if it was Edwin Encarnacions home-run shot streaking across the sky.

American Meteor Society received nearly 280 reports of a fireball

THE UTSC Observatory captured a meteor over Toronto late Tuesday night. (UTSC Observatory/Twitter)

A meteor flewover the city Tuesday night around the same time the Blue Jays punched their ticket to a playoff showdown with the Texas Rangers, leaving manyfans wondering if it was Edwin Encarnacion's home-run shot streaking across the sky.

Around 11:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, the UTSC Observatory, the astronomical observatory of the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus,tweeted that it had recorded its first meteor.

Blue Jays first baseman Edwin Encarnacion celebrates after hitting a walk-off, three-run home run during 11th inning of the American League Wild Card game against the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Encarnacion blasted his walk-off homer minutes later, and some fans suggested the fireballwas the ball sailing out of the Rogers Centre.

While baseball fans were having fun with news of the meteor, others appeared frightened by the flash in the sky. Haltonpolice went so far as to reassure residents that the fireball wasn't anything more dangerous.

The American Meteor Society said early Wednesday it had received nearly 280 reports of a fireball over the eastern Great Lakes region.

Witnesses were largely in Ontario, according to the society, but reports came in from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware, Massachusetts and Quebec.

"Toronto police and fire services received multiple calls about a 'plane crashing into the Toronto Harbour,' but luckily it was just a fireball in the night sky," the society said in a statement on its website.

The meteor's estimated trajectory was south to north, and "ended its flight south of Cameron, N.Y.," the society said.

According to NASA's schedule of meteor showers, the Orionids showers are active now until Nov. 14, with peak activity projected to be on Oct. 21 and 22, with as many as 20 meteors per hour.

"The Orionids, formed from the debris of Halley's comet, are known for being bright and quick," NASA says.