A bright streak of light over California gained a lot of attention when it was spotted across the sky in the San Francisco Bay area, Huffington Post reports Feb. 16. Witnesses claim seeing an unusual flash of light there Friday night. This news comes soon after a meteor crashed in Russia last week.
What would cause the bright streak of light over the California? It's believed to be either a sporadic meteor or fireball, Mike Hankey -- operations manager for the American Meteor Society -- said. There was up to 35 recorded sightings of the light. Whichever the bright streak of light was, it wasn't a major event.
Local media outlets reported the flash of light as being from Gilroy to Sacramento. Gilroy is about 80 miles south of San Francisco and Sacramento is 90 miles to the northeast.
The meteor crash in Chelyabinsk, Russia recently hit the earth -- shattering windows, damaging buildings, and injuring over 550 people. No fatalities were reported. That type of meteor incident is far less common.
Fireballs happen everyday all over the world, as Hankey pointed out. This one may have been a small piece from an asteroid that managed to get on a collision course with the earth. Normally, they aren't seen so close to the planet.
Over 15,000 tons of debris from asteroids reportedly enter the earth's atmosphere each year.
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