WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- A mysterious light that streaked across the night sky in California and Nevada was debris from an old Russian rocket, U.S. defense officials said.
The bright fireballs that awed onlookers on Tuesday night launched speculation of everything from shooting stars to Santa's sleigh. But U.S. Strategic Command put the conjecture to rest when it announced the light was caused by a Russian SL-4 rocket re-entering the atmosphere over Arizona about 7:08 p.m. MT.
Strategic Command spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell said the Joint Space Operation Center has been tracking the rocket pieces as well as 16,000 other pieces of space debris.
Even with the confirmation the mysterious light was not extraterrestrial, it didn't stop a social media explosion.
Hey, @8NewsNow what was flying over Vegas 10 minutes ago? pic.twitter.com/QfFUxAA3BF
— Andy McEldowney (@a_mceldowney) December 23, 2015Weird flaming streak of debris in the sky south of Las Vegas just after 6PM. Anyone else see it? pic.twitter.com/ax13zm2jAx
— Brand Hunt (@brandhunt) December 23, 2015
