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Mysterious Light Over Calif. Likely A Fireball, Scientists Say

Mysterious Light Over Calif. Likely A Fireball, Scientists Say

Scores of sky watchers in Southern California and Arizona had an X-Files moment on Wednesday when they witnessed a brilliant colorful light darting across the night sky.

The unidentified flying object was most likely a piece of asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere, a NASA scientist said Thursday.


Witnesses in the Southwest reported to local authorities and media outlets that they saw the light hurtle quickly from west to east at 7:45 p.m. Many described the light as bluish-green and others as yellow and orange.

Don Yeomans, who heads NASA's Near-Earth Object Program, said he was convinced it was a fireball - a fragment of an asteroid the size of a baseball or basketball that hit the atmosphere and disintegrated before reaching the ground.

This natural phenomenon tends to happen on a weekly basis, but usually occurs over the ocean where no one can see.

"It's unusual for an object of this size to be seen over populated areas," Yeomans said.

After witnessing the bright streak of light, sky watchers took to social media websites to speculate what the UFO could be. Was it an alien spaceship? A massive falling star? A galaxy exploding?

Yeomans said the scientific explanation is actually mundane. The bluish-green color suggests the object had some magnesium or nickel in it. Orange is usually an indication it's entering the atmosphere at several miles per second, a moderate rate of speed.

"It's one of Mother Nature's better light shows," Yeomans said.

Yeomans ruled out a dead spacecraft falling back to Earth because such events can be predicted ahead of time. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor confirmed that there were no aircraft incidents reported in the western region.

Some sky watchers captured the light on video and uploaded their footage to YouTube. Click the video below to watch: