Fireball over Phoenix, AZ
© KHPO/KTVK
Valley residents have seen their share of unusual lights in the sky over the years, and it happened again Thursday night. It happened just after 9 p.m. Viewer Robert Northrop posted video of the odd light on his Facebook page.

While the light is nothing like the bright meteor that was seen -- and heard -- all over the state, it's definitely something.

What kind of something we do not know yet but check out the video. The light is small and fast so we highlighted it to make it easier for you to see.

You can see the light enter the top of the frame left of center. It zips down on a diagonal, briefly disappearing and then flicking once more before vanishing behind the light.


Well-known storm photographer Mike Olbinski saw it, too, but he did not catch it on camera. He tweeted about it, describing it as a "monster meteor" with an "awesome trail of light."


Another Twitter user saw "gorgeous colors and amazing sight!"

While the June 2 meteor lit up social media as much as it did the pre-dawn sky, it seems like fewer people saw last night's light.

"Arizona is a meteorite hot spot"

The June 2 meteor actually made it through the Earth's atmosphere and crashed in the eastern part of the state. Arizona State University researchers found bits and pieces of it on White Mountain Apache Tribal land.

"This is a really big deal," Laurence Garvie, research professor and curator at the center, said.

ASU boasts one of the largest collection of meteorites on the planet as its Center for Meteorite Studies. Arizona is filled with meteorites and evidence of a large impact at Meteor Crater near Winslow.

"Arizona is a meteorite hot spot," Garvie said in February 2013 after monitoring a 150-foot asteroid that passed within 17,000 miles of Earth -- the closest known fly-by of a rock that size -- and a meteor that exploded above Russia's Ural Mountains.

Arizona's June 2 meteorite made national headlines, but it wasn't the first time Phoenix has made national news for lights in the sky.

The Phoenix Lights was quite the talker in March 1997. Many believed -- still believe -- the massive V-shaped formation of lights moving across the night sky was a UFO. Those who saw it say stars disappeared behind it, reappeared after it passed. The lights were first spotted in Norther Arizona, seen by more and more people as it moved south all the way down the state and pact Tucson.

The generally accepted (but never definitively proved) explanation is that the lights were a group of planes flying in formation.

That same night, there also was set of lights that seemed to hover of the city of Phoenix. the U.S. Air Force said those lights were slow-falling, long-burning flares dropped by a plane during a training exercise at the Barry Goldwater Range.