A huge, bright meteor streaking through the sky freaked a bunch of people out
A big and bright fireball streaked across the skies above the southwest United States in the wee hours of Thursday morning, providing a surprising view for people on the ground lucky enough to see it.
Many reports of the meteor sighting appear to cluster around Arizona with some in California, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and other states.
So far, more than 140 reports of the meteor -- which appears to have flashed across the sky at about 4 a.m. local time -- have been submitted to the American Meteor Society (AMS).
You May Also Like
According to NASA, the space rock which produced the fireball was probably about 5 feet across with a "mass of a few tons." When it entered Earth's atmosphere, the asteroid was probably flying at 40,200 mph, the space agency added.
“There are no reports of any damage or injuries—just a lot of light and few sonic booms,” Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, said in a statement.
“If Doppler radar is any indication, there are almost certainly meteorites scattered on the ground north of Tucson.”
Some fireball videos (at least one of which is full of expletives) show that the flash of the meteor was so bright that it briefly made it as bright as day outside.
"It was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed," LeAnn K. in Star Valley, Arizona wrote in a meteor report for the AMS.
"It lit the area up as if it were daylight outside and it was only a sliver moon and pitch black out."
A loud and bright meteor streaking through the sky can also really freak people out on the ground.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
People waking up in daylight were also treated to a view of vapor trails presumably left by the meteor above Arizona.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
"Saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eye," Richard C. said in an AMS report filed from Roswell, New Mexico. "Looked to my right and saw the metro ball and sparks falling with smoke trails behind."
Fireballs are not necessarily rare events.
According to the AMS, "several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere each day," but most of them happen over water or in sparsely populated parts of the world.
If you saw this fireball or another and want to file a report, head over to the AMS's website.
UPDATE: June 3, 2016, 9:50 a.m. EDT This story has been updated to reflect new information from NASA.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
