Alberta, Nov. 21  -- An intensely bright and colorful meteorite lit up the skies over the western Canadian province of Alberta and sparked hundreds of emergency calls to police.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and local forces all began receiving calls around 5:30 p. m. Thursday, and some reports were called in from Manitoba to the east, the Edmonton Sun reported

Various people described the object as orange, green, yellow, purple or blue, the Edmonton Journal said.

Farmer Marcellin Gobeil told the Sun there wasn't just a visual display in the dark sky.

"I did hear a boom," he said. "It came down pretty fast, but it lasted a long time, a lot longer than I've ever seen it."

Chris Herd, an associate professor in the University of Alberta's department of earth and atmospheric sciences and curator of the university's meteorite collection, told the newspaper he hoped someone would find an impact site.

"The question now that remains is whether anything made it to the ground," Herd said. "This thing was so bright it indicates that it's a pretty good-sized piece of space rock." (UPI)