ATLANTA (AP) NASA officials say brilliant lights and loud booms reported across the southern U.S. came from a meteor.
Officials at the Marshall Space Flight Center say a fragment of a comet entered Earth's atmosphere Monday night.
NASA officials say the meteor traveled at a speed of 76,000 mph (122,300 kph). They say just three seconds after hitting the atmosphere it disintegrated, producing a flash of light.
NASA spokeswoman Janet Anderson says that because it penetrated so deep into Earth's atmosphere, eyewitnesses heard sonic booms.
Music fans at a Mumford & Sons concert in Alabama reported seeing a flash of light.