On the same day that a meteor exploded over Russia, injuring more than 1,000 people, and an asteroid passed relatively close to Earth, Northern California residents reported seeing an unusual flash of light over the San Francisco Bay area, leaving them shocked and in awe, The Associated Press reported.
The Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland reports receiving calls describing what appeared to be a fireball flying west Friday night, but it's not completely clear what the object was.
Jonathan Braidman, an instructor at the center, told The Associated Press, based off reports, that the object was probably a fragment of an asteroid that "somehow" collided with the earth.
"This is a very common occurrence," Braidman said to The Associated Press. "What is uncommon is that it's so close to where people are living."
Although the center's large telescopes did not pick up the object during a stargazing event, The American Meteor Society at Pennsylvania State University received about 35 reports of the event, operations manager Mike Hankey told The Associated Press.
Hankey told The Associated Press that the light appeared to be a sporadic meteor, or fireball. "Fireballs happen every single night, all around the world," he added.
Large meteors like the one that hit Russia are rare, but smaller meteorites hit Earth five to 10 times per year, The Associated Press reported. One meteor landed in the Bay Area in October, creating a loud sonic boom.
"The media attention on the Russian thing got people's attention, so they're more likely to notice things in the sky," Hankey, operations manager of the American Meteor Society told The Associated Press.
Although Friday night's fireball excited many San Francisco Bay area resident, Braidman said approximately 15,000 tons asteroid debris enter the earth's atmosphere every year.
"Usually these things break up into small pieces and are difficult to find," he told The Associated Press.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
