[kellyhound]

A fireball streaking across the sky over Guam and the Mariana Islands Friday night led residents to speculate the amazing sight was everything from a UFO to a Chinese rocket to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un’s threatened Christmas “gift.”

“There have been numerous sightings and videos of bright light breaking up over the skies of Saipan and Guam.

Based on the videos, it is probably a meteorite breaking up in the sky as it enters the earth’s atmosphere. Some residents also reported hearing explosion during this incident and it is not uncommon.

Another possibility is this could be debris from an earlier Chinese rocket or booster test,” the National Weather Service said.

Update: It was thought to be a meteorite, but according to Guam Homeland Security it appears to be a rocket launched from China. A press release from Guam Homeland Security states that Chinese media outlets report that a heavy lift Long March 5 rocket carrying a test satellite payload blasted off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern island of Hainan at 8.45 p.m.

This commercial space launch occurred at 10:45pm Guam time and corresponds with an FAA Notice to Airmen that was active from 10:43 p.m. until 2:41 a.m. The atmospheric phenomena that was witnessed in the vicinity of the Marianas occurred around 11:25 p.m.