This Morning's Fireball Was Just Space Junk, Says NASA

Random fireballs in the sky, depending on your perspective in life, are either very exciting or very scary. Presumably both emotions were experienced by witnesses this morning when a bright fireball appeared in the darkened early morning sky over a few southern states. The event was captured by many in the form of pictures and videos, and it spurred all sorts of unfounded speculation: aliens, secret government experiments, the end of the world. The reality, though, is far more mundane.

Unsuspecting bystanders weren't the only people to capture the fireball — NASA was also watching it, recording its passing with five cameras, according to WSB-TV. The news station says NASA confirmed some details to it, including that it was just space junk burning up.

It was moving too slow to be a meteor, which is what many had assumed it was, and lasted for too long. Those located in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina were able to see the long streak of fire for nearly a minute, it is being reported.

Those in one region reportedly saw it so closely that some called the local authorities to report a plane crash. NASA didn't specify what the space junk might have been, and according to WSB-TV the Department of Defense is looking into the event to identify what exactly was burning up.

SOURCE: WSB-TV