SANTEE, CA - Witnesses reported seeing a fireball streaking across the night skies above San Diego County, prompting authorities to look for a crashed plane.
California Highway Patrol officers were among those who told officials they saw an object sizzle across the sky for four minutes over east San Diego County.
The first call reporting the object was made by a witness in Santee, about 15 miles east of downtown San Diego, at 8:26 p.m. Other reports were received from locations up to 60 miles away.
A CHP officer in San Clemente reported at 8:30 p.m. that he'd spotted a shooting star streaking west into the Pacific Ocean.
The Federal Aviation Administration said no planes had been reported lost, and a Vandenberg Air Force Base spokesman said no missiles were launched Thursday.
Rich Strobel of the San Diego Astronomy Association said a meteor as small as a baseball could catch fire as it entered the atmosphere. Man-made space debris could also have broken up on entry, appearing as a fiery ball in the sky.
(Original headline: Witnesses report fiery object in San Diego sky )
