Fireball streaks across the sky near Bancroft, Ont.

A fireball lit up the sky near Bancroft, Ont., early Wednesday morning and researchers believe meteorites may have come down to the ground around the community. 

Western University runs an all-sky camera network in conjunction with NASA that monitors the sky for meteoroids, and it caught the image of the bright meteor at 4:44 a.m. ET.

Western astronomy professor Peter Brown said cameras as far away as Montreal captured the event. He said they believe it was the size of a small beach ball and as bright as the full moon.

"This fireball likely dropped a small number of meteorites in the Bancroft area, specifically near the small town of Cardiff," said Brown in a media release.

"We suspect meteorites made it to the ground because the fireball ended very low in the atmosphere just to the west of Bancroft and slowed down significantly. This is a good indicator that material survived."

Researchers believe it first became visible over Lake Ontario, near Oshawa, Ont., before streaking across Peterborough, Ont., and landing near Bancroft.  

Looking for samples 

Brown said researchers would love to examine any meteorites that fell to the ground.

He said while they're not dangerous, anyone who picks one up should handle it as little as possible to preserve its scientific value. 

"Meteorites are of great interest to researchers as studying them helps us to understand the formation and evolution of the solar system," said Brown.  

Anyone with a rock they believe could be from this event should get in touch with the Royal Ontario Museum.