British Columbians took to social media Tuesday evening to share reports of a bright fireball in the night sky over Vancouver, and a house-rattling sonic boom. A seismologist from Natural Resources Canada’s earthquake early warning operation has confirmed a few local seismometers in B.C. picked up the event well, and the agency can confirm the shock recorded was “not an earthquake.” Alison L. Bird adds, however, that Earthquakes Canada cannot specify the location of the event, as its system is designed to detect movements within the Earth and not atmospheric occurrences. The incident happened shortly after 9 p.m. Pacific time, with bright flashes followed minutes later by a sonic boom strong enough to register on multiple area seismographs, which measure and record ground motion, vibrations and seismic waves. People have…
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