Mystery Light: 'Bright Fireball Over San Francisco Bay'

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — There was a collective ,"What was that?" around the San Francisco Bay Area Wednesday evening as a streak of light went across the sky. Rocket launch? Meteor? Weird cloud?

The American Meteor Society (AMS) has weighed in and says, "Two videos of the event clearly show it was a fireball." A fireball is defined as a very bright meteor.

The meteor happened to coincide with a planned rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, which was supposed to be visible in the Bay Area. The launch was cancelled at the last minute.

There was also speculation that the light was the undocking of the Soyuz spacecraft from the International Space Station. But the space station wasn't in the area at the time.

There were plenty of other photos and videos posted on YouTube and Twitter. In addition to the speculation about rocket launches and clouds, some people had fun with their comments. One suggested that it was Santa making a test run. Still others wondered about aliens.

The Geminid meteor shower is currently underway. In fact, the peak was on Dec. 13-14. The Geminids are reliably the most prolific meteor shower of the year, producing up to 120 shooting stars an hour. The meteor shower radiates from the bright constellation Gemini (the twins). Look for the constellation Orion — it’s the one with the three stars that make up the hunter’s “belt” — and then look up and to the left to find Gemini, which is high in the southwestern sky.

Both of the videos mentioned by the AMS were posted to YouTube. The first was taken in Millbrae:

The second is dash cam video posted by YouTube user Aririn:

Read more about American Meteor Society

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Patch editors Bea Karnes and Beth Dalbey contributed to this article; Photo by Autumn Johnson/Patch