spacetoday.net: Texas fireball not linked to satellite collision

Texas fireball not linked to satellite collision

Posted: Tue, Feb 17, 2009, 7:40 AM ET (1240 GMT)
A brilliant fireball that streaked across Texas on Sunday was not created by debris from a satellite collision last week, according to military officials who track space objects. The brilliant fireball was seen by many from Dallas to Austin on Sunday morning, although nothing was seen to hit the ground. Initial speculation, supported by a report from the FAA, suggested that the fireball was a piece of debris from last week's collision of an Iridium satellite with a Russian Cosmos satellite in orbit. However, officials with the US Strategic Command later said that the fireball was not linked to any debris being tracked from the collision. The fireball was instead most likely a meteor.