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FAA: Atlanta fireball was a meteor, not a plane crash

The fireball was most likely the result of interplanetary debris, NASA says.

By Brooks Hays
A map shows the distribution of fireball reports across the Southeast. Photo by American Meteor Society
A map shows the distribution of fireball reports across the Southeast. Photo by American Meteor Society

ATLANTA, June 29 (UPI) -- A bright fiery object was seen streaking across the night sky in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast in the early hours of Monday morning.

The bright streak was described to local Atlanta network Channel 2 Action News by a viewer from McDonough, Georgia, as "something with bright colors with a long following of bright colors went through the sky. It was amazing."

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So far, the American Meteor Society has received some 130 reports about a Monday morning fireball report from skywatchers in the Southeast -- most filed by viewers in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.

The FAA told local Alabama news station WBRC that their office had received "numerous reports" about the fireball. The agency said they had no information about any plane crashes or other accidents in the region, and that the fireball was most likely a meteor.

NASA told WSB-TV that the streak could have been the result of space junk burning up in the atmosphere, but that it was more likely the fireball was the result of interplanetary debris.

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