Some thought it was a shooting star. Others thought it might have been aliens. Officials say it was debris from a Russian rocket.
Streaks of lights were seen across the sky in Arizona, California and Nevada.
However, such debris is more common than one might think. Most of it is small and does not make it to the ground.
"Everything we launch into space leaves some sort of debris, and so we’re actually getting a debris ring around our earth that is basically just space junk,” said Josh Bangle with the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. “Every once in a while, it will be pulled back in by our gravity and burned up through our atmosphere.”
Bangle said social media, where some heard about the lights, is a good tool in allowing others to experience an event, but encouraged getting informed facts before coming to conclusions.
Updated 2:35 p.m.