Community Corner

Strange Lights Identified As Falling Fireball

The streaking light was reportedly seen from Phoenix to San Diego, including by residents in Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and La Quinta.

Strange lights seen over Southern California, including Murrieta, Palm Desert and San Diego, turned out to be a falling fireball, NASA announced Thursday.

The lights – which some people believed was a UFO -- were also seen in Nevada and Arizona about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, CBS Los Angeles reported.

A NASA scientist told the Associated Press the fireball was most likely a basketball or baseball-sized asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere.

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Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, told the AP it disintegrated before it reached the ground.

In the Coachella Valley, many residents were alarmed, according to MyDesert.com.

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“A friend and I saw a huge green meteor falling toward Palm Desert, with a tail burning for five seconds or so,” resident Michael Azzarella told the website.

La Quinta resident Oscar Fonseca said he was out for his nightly run when he saw the fireball.

"What a spectacle, it felt like time stood still for a couple of minuets. I felt like it was going to hit somewhere in PGA West,'' Fonseca said.

Janice Carabine told Murrieta Patch she spotted the fireball in Southwest Riverside County.

“It was an amazing sight; looked like a very long lasting, shooting star that ended at the horizon. Was great to be able to see this,’’ Carabine said.

Did you see the fireball? E-mail us your comments, video or photos at jessica.davis@patch.com.


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