It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s possibly a meteor!
Hundreds of people across seven states saw a bright flash across the dark sky Thursday morning and some even heard a loud boom.
“Friction from the atmosphere disrupts this ... as it comes in and it creates this giant flash and that’s what creates the sonic boom that was heard,” said Daniel Dunlap, a graduate student with Arizona State University Center for Meteorite Studies.
NASA has said the object is likely a meteor that was 10 feet across, which is actually considered a small meteor. However, others say it may take time to determine what exactly is was.
“It appears to be a meteor or some sort of space junk,” said Josh Beangal with Lowell Observatory.
Numerous videos surfaced showing multiple colors as the fireball flew across the sky, which is caused by what material is burning. "Different chemical compounds, different heat levels all sorts of stuff like that,” Beangal said about what determines the color of the flame.
The other big question: Where did this object impact the ground? The answer ... it might have never hit the ground. Beangal noted, "I do not believe it made it to the ground. Something that size moving that fast would have burnt up."
These objects fly across the sky at incredible speeds. "At 60 to 70 miles per second,” said Beangal. This is approximately 25,000 miles per hour and it's this speed and heat that causes the large trail left behind.
“It’s vaporized materials from its passage through our atmosphere,” said Dunlap.
With wind and pressure differences in the atmosphere the trail left behind spread out and as the sun rose over the horizon it became illuminated.
To determine what exactly fell from the sky, scientists determined the track of the object. Beangal said, "We track where this thing came from and where it goes and see if it was in that junk of belt or maybe this was possibly an asteroid or meteor that they were following for some time."
The good news scientist agree that we should not be worried. They track the large asteroids and meteors that could threaten Earth and they know exactly where they are.