Fire in the Texas Sky: Satellite Collision Debris

Most of the debris is burning up in the atmosphere, but there have been reports of pieces landing across Texas.

NASA says debris could end up circling the Earth for years. The FAA did tell pilots to look out for possible debris on Saturday.

Matthew Donelon of Georgetown said he saw a "very bright orange/purple object streak across the sky to the north."

"The object left a smoke trail for a distance and then went out," Donelon said. "The smoke trail lasted for more than 15 minutes before it dispersed. There was no sound, so I estimate it was some distance away."

Max Lyon saw something similar.

He described it as "a bright glowing egg-shape with an orange center and bluish outer aura [with] a silvery-white tail."

"The tail was intact for several seconds, then became segmented," Lyon said. "I conclude that the single object became several objects during incineration aftermath -- a white tail remained visibile for up to 10 minutes."

Shortly after 12 p.m. Sunday, Waco news station KWTX alerted residents that law enforcement officials were looking for the source of a "loud explosion" heard and felt by residents throughout Central Texas. A short time later, it was reported that an FAA spokesman said the agency suspected that residents were seeing and feeling the effects of falling debris from the U.S. and Russian satellites that collided in space last week.

Later in the evening, as Central Texas residents settled on the belief that we had experienced falling debris from the satellite collision, some local news sources began reporting that whatever it was that streaked across the Central Texas sky was not debris from the satellites. By the time national news outlets picked up the story, it was being widely reported that a STRATCOM official stated there was no connection between what Central Texans experienced and the satellite collision.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received a series of reports from law enforcement agencies in Texas in regards to reports of debris falling out of the sky.

The biggest of which was something which looked like a ball of fire going across the Texas sky.

The belief is that this debris is from the collision of a U.S. satellite and Russian satellite last week.

Not only was a ball of fire seen, but a sonic boom was also reported in the state.