Mysterious Fireball Lights Up Texas Sky (Video)

Did you see it?

There is a lot of sky to look up at in the Lone Star State. And sometimes that vastness includes more than just the big and bright stars at night.

On rare occasions the night sky will treat you to a stunning, mysterious light show. That was the case recently when a fiery object was seen moving slowly across the West Texas sky.

The brilliant ball of light trailed by a bright tail that at times reportedly burned blue was reported by eye witnesses in Texas, southern New Mexico, California and northern Mexico, according to the American Meteor Society which received numerous reports of a mysterious fireball on July 25.

The sighting led to a flood of inquiries on social media, with many wondering what they had just witnessed. Theories ranged from meteor shower to an intergalactic spaceship.

While it hasn’t been definitively identified, experts agree it was not part of one of the meteor showers visible during summer nights. Nor was the luminous object from a galaxy far, far away.

"It more likely was burned up of a satellite coming into the atmosphere,” said El Paso Community College Physics and Astronomy Professor John G. Olgin, Ph.D. when asked about the fireball by an El Paso news station. “The way the debris pattern was, and also the kind of speed that you're looking at," Olgin added.

Object Could Be Rocket Launched Over Decade Ago

Fireball streaking across the sky over El Paso, TexasPhoto byAbandoned Underground Youtube

The object might be a Japanese satellite rocket launched in 2010. This is what Aerospace Corp., a space research group that gives expert advice on space stuff, thinks.

A navigation satellite named Michibik was launched by the Japanese space agency on September 11, 2010. NASA said at the time it was supposed to last for 10 years.

Aerospace predicted Michibik would reenter Earth's atmosphere over northern Mexico on July 26, so the fireball sightings track.

At least, that's what they're telling us. Maybe it was an alien life-form paying us a visit and using the space junk as cover. We report, you decide! (Cue X-Files Theme).

Video: Strange Lights in the Sky Over El Paso, TX 7/25/2024

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