Satellite Debris Rains Down on Southwest: FAA

Fireballs streaking across Kentucky, Texas, and New Mexico are likely debris from two satellites that collided last week, Space.com reports. Since Friday, residents have been calling police and weather offices reporting loud blasts that FAA officials are attributing to debris entering the atmosphere. The FAA also warned airplane pilots to watch for falling satellite parts.

“It was like a ball of flame with a tail," one Texas resident told the Dallas Morning News. "It looked like a meteor." A defunct Russian satellite smashed into a US satellite on Tuesday, spewing debris that experts say could orbit Earth for 10,000 years and threaten the International Space Station. (More satellite stories.)