It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a shooting star: Fireball spotted over Alberta and U.S.

Early risers were treated to a colourful overhead show as a fireball was seen soaring over parts of Alberta, including Edmonton and Calgary.

Fireballs are meteors that reach a certain brightness after entering the Earth's atmosphere.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

The fireball was reported around 6:30 a.m. MT by more than 140 people ranging from Edmonton to Regina and as far south as Utah, according to the American Meteor Society.

The green glow was visible south of Edmonton.

Considering how low it was in the sky, if the meteorite did land, it would likely have done so in southern Alberta or Montana, Frank Florian, the senior manager of planetarium and space sciences at the Telus World of Science.

"If researchers get enough eyewitness accounts and the cameras show them the path of the object, there's a potential they could find the location where some of these rocks may have fallen," Florian said.

"They might send out a crew of individuals, even amateur astronomers, to go out and actually scour fields looking for little black rocks that might be strewn somewhere over the countryside."

If people do find pieces of this meteor or any other one, they are safe to touch.

Only the outer shell of a meteor heats up when it enters the atmosphere, which gives off that glow, according to Florian. The inside of the rock remains at the temperature of outer space during the fall, around -270 degrees.

A meteor flashes in the sky south of Edmonton on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Bryan Evans)

"For the most part, these rocks are going to be cold to the touch and most likely there won't be this black ooze coming out of it like you see on the X-Files and things like that," he said.

"It's just going to look like a little black rock sitting around on the ground somewhere."

Several sources of meteor activity could be visible this week, including the Andromedids, the Northern Taurids and the alpha Canis Majorids, among others.

Thousands of meteors reach fireball classification every day, but most happen over oceans, uninhabited regions or are hidden by daylight, according to the American Meteor Society.

Due to most falling in places that are hard to reach or can't be accessed, meteorites are considered rare and can fetch a high price.

"You can basically get about $10 per gram, if not more, depending upon the rarity of meteor … it's almost like a fine jewel here on the earth," said Florian.

Researchers also like to acquire them, because meteors can tell them information about the early history of the solar system.

In the past, Canada had a set of sky cameras as part of the Meteorite Observation Recovery Project, but they ran on film and needed new film daily. Most of the time, the film wouldn't show anything, Florian said.

Now, with technological advancements, including doorbell cameras and dash cams, there is increased chances of being able to track and find meteorites that survived the trip.

Florian estimatesWednesday's meteor may have been around a metre in size. Based on reports that people around Calgary and Montana heard sounds associated with it, he believes it likely fragmented.

Any fragments people might come across will have a black, coal-like outer shell and will be slightly magnetic.

Farmers often bring in rocks to be identified, and some do turn out to be meteorites, though the majority aren't.

Fireballs can be reported to the American Meteor Society online, which shares the information with other meteor organizations.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk