SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 The night sky above Utah was bright as day for just a moment early Thursday morning as a suspected meteor burned its way into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Space experts said the flash of light was most likely a meteor burning up as it slammed into Earth\u2019s atmosphere, creating what\u2019s known as a fireball<\/a>.<\/p>\n Multiple reports confirm the fireball lit up the sky at 4:50 a.m. across Utah and neighboring states. Dozens have reported the sight to the American Meteor Society, but the agency\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0confirmed it as a meteor yet.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it was amazing. I will say this \u2014 it was absolutely amazing,\u201d Herb Patterson, who was driving through Spanish Fork at the time, said.<\/p>\n Patterson described the moment as intense and unexpected.<\/p>\n \u201cI just see a light that\u2019s really dim that started getting brighter, brighter (and) brighter. And I\u2019m thinking to myself, what is that? And it was kind of eerie at first,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then just the whole sky and all the roads and everything around me lit up for like a fraction of a second. And then it was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Video captured in Tooele County shows the bright flash cutting across the sky, matching reports from drivers and early risers throughout the region.<\/p>\n It\u2019s\u00a0also\u00a0still unclear whether any pieces\u00a0ever\u00a0reached the ground.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0Jason Trump, Education Program Manager at\u00a0Clark Planetarium<\/a>\u00a0and NASA Solar System Ambassador,\u00a0recovery depends\u00a0largely on\u00a0where fragments may have landed.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it landed in an area that has a lot of rock, say, in one of the canyons of Utah, well, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to find,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIf it landed somewhere like the Salt Flats, it could be recovered \u2014 like there was a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n The timing of the fireball isn\u2019t unusual. February through April is what NASA refers to as \u201cfireball season,\u201d when there are increased reports of fireballs in the daytime and night time skies.<\/p>\n Utah is also in the midst of two meteor showers: the Lyrid<\/a> and Eta Aquarids<\/a>, but experts said this fireball was something different.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething like this would have been a big chunk of rock that did not come off of a comet,\u201d Trump explained. \u201cMost likely, it came from somewhere in the asteroid belt.\u201d<\/p>\n