ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) –
TO UPDATE
The Twitter account for Dr. Marco Langbroek reports that the fireball that was seen over West Texas early Saturday morning was actually caused by a Russian rocket that ruptured upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
Dr. Langbroek says the Kosmos 2542 rocket was launched in 2019.
Dr. Langbroek is a Dutch archaeologist (PhD) and consultant to the SSA along with an interest in astronomy and related fields.
Did you see the brilliant heavenly show that took place early Saturday morning?
What appeared to be something breaking just above West Texas caused many shiny objects to streak the night sky!
There were several videos and photos posted on social media that left many people bewildered and stunned at what they had witnessed.
CBS7 News contacted the National Weather Service in Midland. The forecasters there did not witness it, but did hear about the event.
We also contacted the McDonald Observatory in Jeff Davis County for more information on what happened on Saturday morning. We are waiting for a reply.
CBS7 did a quick search on the American Meteor Society’s ‘Report a Fireball’ page and found at least 11 reports of fireballs from West Texas and the immediate area from midnight to 6:45 AM.
That page also revealed dozens of other reports from across Texas. We cannot confirm that all this is from the same event in the Permian Basin.
We clicked on a fireball report from the McDonald Observatory that said “Two main pieces and hundreds of other smaller pieces falling below.”
Another Monahans report said: “Various traces of fragments and possibly more than 1 source of origin. It looked like it was breaking. “
And finally, another Pecos says: “At first it seemed like it was coming from the airport maybe and as if a plane was on fire or exploding, but it was going too fast and it kept going over my head and it continued to burn and explode before I he was able to realize what was or was not. “
If you want to report the fireball if you saw it, click here.
If you have photos / videos of what happened, send it to us! You can send us a message on Facebook or send an email to [email protected]
CBS7 will continue to update this story as we gather more information about the fireball.
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