From McKinney to the White Rock Lake area and all the way south to Houston, a bright flash reported in the sky Friday morning captured the attention of many across the Lone Star State. One McKinney woman reported seeing what appeared to be a comet streaking across the sky in a bright flash around 6:42 a.m. near Stonebridge Shopping Center.
Justin Wagoner, who lives in the White Rock Lake area, said he saw a green trail and heard a large "sonic boom" around the same time. Others reported seeing white and orange colors. The sight only lasted a few seconds before vanishing in the sky.

According to Dr. James Roberts, a University of North Texas astronomer who talked to WBAP, the mysterious object in the sky was likely a burned up meteor. A KHOU meteorologist in Houston said it may have been part of the Geminids meteor shower, which takes place in December. The meteorites often appear to be slow moving and are usually best seen at its peak on December 13 and 14.

Mike Hankey, the operations manager with the American Meteor Society, said the meteor was most likely a fireball meteor, which is a meteor brighter than the norm. Hankey described a fireball as any meteor brighter than Venus.

A mysterious fireball flashing across the night sky on Tuesday has fired up the imagination of the Maltese, who questioned whether it was a UFO, a satellite or a sign that the end of the world is nigh.

The bright yellowish ball was seen and caught on video and camera by many, who uploaded the images on social network sites and sent them to timesofmalta.com.

Theories about the phenomenon posted on The Times website ranged from space debris to a missile. Several witnesses described it as a "ball of fire".

Amateur astronomer David Pace said the object was possibly a fireball - a large shooting star trailing flames. He said he had spoken to fellow astronomers who suggested it could have formed part of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower.

Residents of Columbia County are wondering what, or whom, is responsible for the boom.

Residents on and near Louisville Road near Appling reported hearing, and feeling, a loud boom early this morning.

"It woke me out of a dead sleep," said Terry Glasscock. "You could feel the vibration. It wasn't like the whole house shook, but you could feel it."

He said he went outside to see if a transformer had blown to discover his neighbors outside as well, also investigating the noise.

"I know the rock quarry blast. We hear the siren and can sometimes feel that, but this was a little different."

He said he felt something similar about six weeks ago, but did not report it.

L MO Meteor ~21:35 CST 04DEC2012

If you witnessed this meteor please file a meteor sighting report on this site; thank you!

Initial Sighting Reports:

04DEC2012 Brian Puyear Kansas City MO, USA 2137 8 seconds E-W, Left to Right, East orange Brighter than a stat. as bright as a plane or helicopter at the very end Thise ar e the facts, but I have to say. that was a big, long fucking meteor.

04DEC2012 Craig Hillis Harviell, Missouri USA 2135 15-20 seconds 2136 Green ball of light with sparks trailing behind it. Large smoke trail afterwards moon yes Second time i have witnessed this in a month and a half.

04DEC2012 loudtrumpet Belleville Illinois USA 2139 CMT 4 seconds N-S Multi-colored - No sound until no longer visable, then faint impact sound Moon No Like a shooting star, but much closer and more colorful.

04DEC2012 Jim Hillsboro, Illinois, USA 2135 US Central appx. 4-6 sec facing S travelled E-W white at start, began to fade, then became orange and brighter brighter than moon, less than sun none observed the color change was amazing!

04DEC2012 Shelby Shariatzadeh Chicago, IL 21:30:00 1-2 seconds North Yellow/White A little brighter than Venus no This was the second one I saw tonight in Chicago which is a bright city and you don't see many stars.

Several readers contacted our website this evening to report an unusual object, possibly a comet, crossing low in the night sky.

Edward Zammit, who lives in Mellieha, said that at about 8.45 he saw a comet in the sky crossing from north to the west of Malta. "It wasn't a shooting star, I saw it passing for about 15 seconds until is was hidden by nearby building," he said.

Markatia Bugeja reported that she had just seen 'the most wonderful asteroid passing over Malta at enormous speed.'

"I think it fell into the sea. It was a huge ball of fire with a long tail, it was amazing," she said, hoping that somebody had grabbed a picture.

Robert Bonello, said he had seen what appeared to be a 'mega shooting star or meteorite with a yellow tail behind it...extremely fast, beautiful but scary.

He asked if anyone could give an explanation.

BARRINGTON, R.I. - Rhode Island and Coast Guard officials say they haven't found anything after receiving reports about an explosion in Narragansett Bay.

People on both sides of the bay in Barrington and Warwick and as far away as Somerset, Mass., reported hearing what sounded like an explosion at about 11:30 p.m. Monday. Some also reported seeing a light.

Area police and firefighters tried to find the source of the noise and light during land and water searches, but officials say nothing was found.

Coast Guard crews and local officials also searched Monday night for a boat reported to be in distress, but didn't find anything.

TV stations reported receiving reports of an explosion followed by a loud hum. A Coast Guard spokesman says the Conimicut lighthouse near Warwick emits a hum pattern.

Initial Meteor Sighting Reports

28 November 2012 - Phil, Georgetown, MA 23:00 EST

6 seconds duration - East to West. Bright and white, same as the moon. I saw fragmentation and a tail. It was very low in the sky.

28 November 2012 - Benjamin Lipiecki, Brighton, Massachusetts, USA 2340

Half a second duration, maybe a whole second. Saw it when looking Northeast as it traveled right to left at a very steep angel. The fireball started blue, then increased in size and changed to red. I was outside for several more minutes and did not hear any sound. Bright enough to see VERY clearly in a major urban area. The fireball at least appeared larger than the moon. Did not see any fragmentation, but the fireball did get very large and looked like it exploded or burnt out. Was unlike anything I've ever seen or expected to see in the night sky. At first I thought I must have been seeing things, but a friend of mine across town saw it too, and three or four people on twitter seem to also have seen it.

28 November 2012 - Bonnie, Worcester, Mass 11:41 p.m.

3-4 seconds duration - Facing north, I saw it go from right to left. It was green with gold edges, and was fast! Clear as day! Maybe its edges fragmented, like sparks of gold colors.

28 November 2012 - Rick Shaffer, Reading, MA, USA 23:40:00

1-2 seconds duration - East-Northeast. Light green color, no sound. Bright as the moon, moving in opposite direction I was travelling in. It appeared very large and close.

Initial Reports

29 November 2012 - Hunor, Ocsa, Hungary 18:00:00

I suppose it was around 12 seconds duration. If facing the trail, then its direction was SE-NW, from right to left. I think it started over Alsapakony and stopped above Felsopakony. It had a bright white flame and was bright red at the contact zone. It looked like the lights of a landing airplane at a distance of 500m. I observed fragmentation into at least three or four major parts. Unfortunately I was too late to take a picture.

29 November 2012 - Lukasz, RACIBORZ, POLAND 17:50:00

6 seconds duration. I was facing SSE, it went from left to right (the meteor bearing was SW). There was no sound, it was bright white, with some green and a little blue. It looked like car headlights from about 200m away. 3-4 fragments fell off during its flight. It looked like it was going pretty slow (though I've never seen a meteor before). Its flight path was very flat, almost horizontal. It flew for 6 seconds and then suddenly disappeared (maybe hidden behind clouds).

Bill Cooke of NASA confirms!

"Confirm bright event on November 30 at 03:35:50 UTC (November 29, 22:35:50 EST).Confirm slow and low event, seen in 4 cameras. Trajectory solution is as follows:

Start location: 86.267 W, 33.959 N at an altitude of 75.0 km
End location: 86.178 W, 33.757 N at an altitude of 37.5 km
Initial speed of 16.0 +/- 0.7 km/s
Decelerated to 9.2 km/s

Technically a possible meteorite dropper, but IMO not likely, as it seems to have small mass based on the meteor brightness. No terminal flare."

Regards,

Bill"

Initial Reports

30 November 2012 - Joanne Nabiac, NSW, Australia 10.46pm

4 seconds duration - Southwest direction. Bright green and small explosion noise. Same brightness as the moon. Super fast, looked like it had a tail but it was the glow behind it. I have never seen anything like this. The "poof" noise sounded far, far away.

30 November 2012 - Fallabella, BRIERFIELD, NSW, Australia 22:30:00

8 seconds duration - N-S direction, I was facing north. Green outline, orange and white colour. Bright as tonight's full moon. Like a super-sized shooting star falling to earth.

30 November 2012 - Nikki Chandler, QLD, Australia Roughly 22.30

2 seconds duration - I saw it out of a small window. Not sure what direction. Bright white ball falling from the sky. It was beautiful.