SPOKANE, Wash. — Did you see it? There was a bright light flying across the sky Monday night. A short while after the light disappeared, there were reports of a loud boom.
We posted about the sight on Facebook asking if anybody else had seen it and the people in the comments were reporting they had seen something as well.
But what was it?
National Weather Service said the bright light was a meteor. According to NASA, space rocks gain the title when the material enters the earths atmosphere. If the rock had landed on the ground without burning up, it would become a meteorite.
The American Meteor Society said the bright light was a fireball. Reports of the event came in from British Columbia, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The website shows a fireball as just a very bright meteor.
British Columbia's Chief Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek posted about the sight on Twitter. Another tweet from Skrepnek said he initially thought it was a power surge.
Well, that was different: while sitting on a patio in #NelsonBC the entire sky lit up and a meteorite came down. Huge boom about 1m later.
— Kevin Skrepnek (@KevinSkrepnek) September 5, 2017
According to NASA, thousands of fireballs and meteors occur around the world each day. Many of these we do not see because they either happen during the daytime or they happen over open ocean or extremely rural areas where people do not get to see them.
Those who did see the bright light certainly got a treat! You might have even captured video without knowing it. Take a look at outdoor home security footage and see if you captured this rare sight!