Officials say mystery fireball in sky was meteor
Updated: 2/16/2009 6:04 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff
A few days ago, an American satellite and a Russian satellite collided 500 miles above the earth. A fireball that blazed across the Texas sky and sparked numerous weekend calls to law enforcement agencies now can be considered an identified flying object. The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday the fireball was a natural phenomenon, not flying space junk, and a North Texas astronomer said more specifically that it was probably a pickup truck-sized meteor with the consistency of concrete. The object was visible Sunday morning from Austin to Dallas and into East Texas. In Central Texas, the Williamson County sheriff's office received so many emergency calls that it sent a helicopter aloft to look for debris from a plane crash. WATCH THE VIDEO Flying Object
News 8 photojournalist Eddie Garcia captures the fireball in the sky Sunday.
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The FAA backed off its weekend claim that the fireball was caused by falling debris from colliding satellites plummeting into earth's atmosphere. The FAA backed off its weekend claim that the fireball was caused by falling debris from colliding satellites plummeting into earth's atmosphere. The U.S. Strategic Command also said Monday that the weekend shower of fireballs over Texas was not debris from last week's collision of two satellites over Siberia. They also said it was a natural phenomenon. What looked like a fireball streaked across the Texas sky Sunday morning, leading many people to call authorities to report seeing falling debris. Preliminary reports from Williamson County officials said a small aircraft went down, and then officials said it was likely space debris from two satellites crashing. FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said officials initially suspected the debris could be related to the collision. News 8 received numerous calls saying debris was falling around midmorning Sunday, what looked like a meteor. Some of the callers reported what looked like a fireball in the sky. A closer look at the fireball in the sky. Williamson County officials combed the area in a helicopter searching for any trace of a small aircraft landing, but were unable to find anything. News 8 Austin photojournalist Eddie Garcia caught the fiery streak in the Central Texas sky Sunday morning. The people in the footage running were not running from the fireball. They were actually running the Austin Marathon. At this time, Garcia's footage is believed to be the only news footage of this incident in the state of Texas. It's getting world-wide attention, and we've received many requests to interview Garcia. CNN reporter Heidi Collins did a live interview Monday morning with our News 8 photographer. He told viewers what he was thinking when he saw the fire in the sky. "At the time, I'm looking in the viewfinder, and I see something flying through the sky. It looks like it could be dust, it could be something. I look up, and no, it was something burning in the sky," Garcia said. The News 8 Web site was sluggish due to the heavy influx of online traffic with the video. The U.S. Strategic Command said the fireball was not debris from last week's crash between U.S. and Russian satellites. They said it was likely a meteor. CNN and News 8 Austin are both subsidiaries of Time Warner. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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On Tuesday, February 10, the American civilian communications satellite Iridium 33, launched in 1997, and the defunct Russian military communications satellite Kosmos-2251, launched in 1993, collided over Siberia. Five days after the collision, reports have surfaced that burning debris from the collision has been spotted over several U.S. cities from New Mexico to Kentucky.

Calls to 9-1-1 began to come in to Williamson County, Texas sheriff's office around 12:30 p.m. (CT) that burning debris and fireballs were seen falling from the sky onto parts of Austin, Houston, Waco and San Antonio. Residents reported their homes and windows shaking and large explosions. After a search of several areas, the Williamson county sheriff's office reported that no debris or impact sites were found. Earlier unconfirmed reports had said the debris could have been the result of a small plane exploding. 
Iridium satellite. 
Steve Thornton, a resident in Austin told KEYE-TV that he "saw something burn up in the atmosphere going east to west at 40 degrees in the horizon looking north" which was "about the size of a half moon and as bright as a welders torch".  Other residents reported to KEYE-TV that they saw an "egg-shape with an orange center and bluish outer aura; a silvery-white tail."  Some report the incident lasting about 10 minutes.

On February 13, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an alert following reports of "explosions and earthquakes" along with "flashes in the sky" in Jackson and Louisville, Kentucky. There were no injures and authorities could not locate any damage.

"The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported to local law enforcement on Friday that these events are being caused by falling satellite debris. These pieces of debris have been causing sonic booms, resulting in vibrations felt by some residents, as well as flashes of light across the sky," said the NOAA in a public information statement on February 13. The FAA also warns that the debris could cause damage to aircraft in areas reporting falling debris.

"Aircraft are advised that a potential hazard may occur due to reentry of satellite debris into the Earth's atmosphere. It is critical that all pilots/crew members report any observed falling space debris," said the FAA on February 13. Both the NOAA and FAA alerts are in place until further notice and cover an area from New Mexico to Kentucky.

However, Dr. Marco Ciocca, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University told WKYT in Kentucky it would "be months" before any of the satellite wreckage enters the Earth's atmosphere. "The debris doesn't simply fall out of its orbit. It will either vaporize or stay in orbit for some time before falling into Earth's atmosphere." 

The satellites, both of which weighed in excess of 1,000 pounds, and traveling at approximately 17,500 miles per hour, collided 491 miles above the Earth. Scientists say the explosion caused by the collision was massive. They are still trying to determine just how large the crash was and how the Earth will be affected. The United States Strategic Command of the U.S. Department of Defense office is tracking the debris. The result of plotting analysis will be posted to a public website.