A streak of fire briefly illuminated the skies above western Canada on Friday night, crossing over large parts of both Saskatchewan and Alberta, intriguing and scaring residents in equal measure.

There were a total of 11 sightings officially reported by the American Meteor Society, but videos of the mysterious phenomenon fuelled speculation online that ranged from the object being a helicopter, to a comet and, of course, aliens. The following video, which has already been viewed over 24,000 times, was filmed at 11:49pm local time on the George Gordon First Nation territory in Saskatchewan, about an hour north of Regina.

“WOW! Looks like a comet?” wrote one user, while another was more concerned about her family, “That was freaky, i kinda got scared but didn’t want my daughter to know haha.”

“Weird, considering my co-worker & I just heard a loud frikn bang at the back of the building here at work at this time. Aliens? Jk but really ... kinda freaky,” wrote another concerned citizen.

Other witnesses also reported the UFO breaking up, scattering glowing sparks of debris across the night sky and effectively ruling out the possibility of a visit from ET. It is more than likely to be a “bolide, which is a special type of fireball which explodes in a bright terminal flash at its end, often with visible fragmentation,” according to the American Meteor Society’s definition.

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Rural Canada is no stranger to meteorites and other spectacular natural phenomena, with multiple such sightings of meteors breaking up in the atmosphere reported each year, reports CBC. The low population density in both Alberta and Saskatchewan means less light pollution and thus, a clearer view of nature’s fireworks displays.