This photo illustration of a different fireball was taken in 1966 by
astronomer Jim Young of JPL’s Table Mountain Observatory.
PASADENA, Calif. A meteor is the most probable cause of a bright, colorful fireball witnessed by people in a wide swath of the southwestern United States, according to Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. Residents from Southern California to Arizona to Las Vegas reported seeing a streak of light move rapidly from west to east around 7:45 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, Sept. 14. "We're virtually certain this bright display was caused by a meteor, probably the size of a baseball or basketball, that burned up in Earth's atmosphere. It appeared much larger because of the heated and glowing atmosphere along its path," said Yeomans. Many eyewitnesses described seeing brilliant colors of blue, green and orange.
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