Southern Ontario had a strange visitor from outer space Friday night, but it didn't arrive in a flying saucer.

Instead, it was a fiery meteor that blasted into the atmosphere, streaking across the sky and wowing many stargazers in southern portions of the province.

Witnesses said the fireball looked like a fireworks display and had a long, flaming tail.

Josie Dunn was one of the lucky ones who spotted the spectacular sight as she was fishing at Ashbridges Bay in east Toronto around 9 p.m. Friday.

"It just went over really fast ... went from green to red, and then it just fizzled out and fell into the water," she told CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney.

In fact, if you were out and about, it would have been pretty tough to miss the bright light.

Photographer Ken Sekiguchi managed to capture the meteor's tail.

He was outside with his camera when the fire ball shot overhead, leaving streaks of white light across the horizon.

Other witnesses said it lit up the entire sky with an otherworldly, green light.

York University astronomy professor Paul Delaney said that judging from reports, the meteor was probably about the size of a baseball. And it was probably travelling very quickly.

"It sounds like it was a rock, a meteor that had hit our atmosphere, (speeding) maybe at 10 to 20 kilometres a second. And at that speed, there's a phenomenal amount of friction ... and that's what generates all the light and the heat."

Unfortunately, Delaney was inside and he missed it. However, his wife Lynne was outside.

She said it was "brilliant, bright" with a "sparkling" tail that dissipated just as fast as it appeared.

With such high speeds, many meteors can burn out before they hit the earth. But recently in Alberta, fragments made it all the way to a farmer's patch of land.

The going price for such rare space rocks can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss was in his backyard last night when the meteor appeared.

"You could see your shadow, that's how bright it was," he said.