Meteor streaks above Bay Area after another explodes over Russia and while 150-foot asteroid passes close

Ellen Mitchell By Ellen Mitchell
on February 16, 2013 at 3:15 AM, updated February 16, 2013 at 3:31 AM
asteroid.jpg This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows a simulation of asteroid 2012 DA14 approaching from the south as it passes through the Earth-moon system. The 150-foot passed by the Earth Friday. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)  

About 24 hours after a huge meteorite fell from the skies over Russia, a meteor was seen streaking across skies in the Bay Area of California, the same night that a colossal asteroid came within 17,150 miles of Earth.

According to NBC Bay Area, the fireball was seen around 7:45 p.m. and was described to be anywhere in color from green to yellow to blue.

Comments on Twitter indicated the meteor was visible throughout the Bay Area and large areas of the West Coast, with at least one reported sighting in Washington state, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Astronomers in Oakland said the meteor was not related to the 150-foot asteroid passing near Earth the same day, and was probably a "sporadic meteor," which can happen several times a day, NBC Bay Area reported.

Sporadic meteors usually happen over the ocean or during the day, therefore going unseen. The Bay Area meteor also was not connected to the Russian meteor.

On Friday, NASA said it was tracking a 150-foot asteroid as it passed by Earth. The flying rock was the closest known flyby for an asteroid of its size, the Associated Press reported.

At 143,000-tons, asteroid 2012 DA14 could be seen with binoculars and telescopes from Asia, Australia and eastern Europe. The asteroid appeared to be a pinpoint of light as it flew by at 17,400 mph, according to the AP.

Scientists said the asteroid could have done immense damage if it ever struck, releasing the energy equivalent of 2.4 million tons of TNT and wiping out 750 square miles. They estimated the meteor that exploded over Russia was one-third the size of the passing asteroid, the AP reported.

On Thursday, a huge meteorite broke apart 12 miles above Russia's Chelyabinsk region, resulting in a powerful blast that injured nearly 1,000 people and damaging more than 3,000 buildings across the area.

Though scientists were able to find and track DA14 before it passed Earth, the Russian meteor approached Earth from the day side and was not picked up by any telescope, according to Bill Cooke, a meteor expert from Marshall Space Flight Center. reported on Friday that NASA scientists said that the meteor was the size of a school bus moving at 40,000 miles per hour and generated "hundreds of kilotons" of energy when it blew apart. The event was the largest meteor explosion near Earth since Tunguska in 1908, and caused a blast "similar to a nuclear explosion," scientists said.

Meteors, hunks of rock and metal from space that fall to Earth, burn up as they go through Earth's atmosphere, which causes a bright flash of light in the night sky.

NASA says a meteor the size of a basketball hits the Earth every day, while a meteor capable of Friday's nuclear-sized explosion over Russia hits roughly every 100 years. A meteor that could cause major damage hits every 500,000 years or so, and the clock on catastrophic, civilization-threatening strikes is measured in millions of years. also released a poll on Friday, asking readers what they would do in the event of a meteor passing a mere 1,750 miles from Earth. As of early Saturday morning, the majority of readers said they would rather head to beach and drink boat drinks rather than take a limo to the casino and go to the buffet or eat two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Lee Roop and Debbie Lord contributed to this report.