What Just Streaked Across The Sky In The Southwest US?

Reports are flooding into Twitter about a large meteor spotted in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. No videos or pictures yet, but speculation is running rampant about what exactly fell from the sky.

The object was reportedly the size of a VW bus, was glowing brightly and breaking up as it fell. Was it a meteor as people first thought or possibly the re-entry of 6-tonne UARS satellite.

Update: This may be first picture of the meteor taken by Brien McElhatten for ABC15 in Arizona.

Update 2: It may not be the UARS. If this tracker is accurate, the satellite appears to be still in orbit and nowhere near the southwest US at the time of these reports.

Update 3: The object streaking across the sky was likely a piece of an asteroid said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program. These fireballs are common occurrences, but they usually happen over the ocean and attract little attention.

[Twitter and AzCentral]


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