The flash from a meteor burning up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere earlier this week was so bright that it was spotted by witnesses in 15 states. The remarkable moment reportedly occurred shortly before 6:30 in the morning on Wednesday. Soon thereafter, social media was flooded with photos and videos from bewildered individuals wondering about the enormous flash that they had just seen.

Although the bulk of the sightings came from residents of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, the event was sizeable enough that people in 13 other states, including Illinois and South Carolina, also witnessed something unusual briefly light up the predawn sky. All told, a whopping 700 reports regarding the early morning incident were recorded. As is often the case with such events, many social media users were quick to blame aliens for the event, but an astronomer in Cleveland explained to a Pittsburgh media outlet that the flash came from a meteor.

As for why this particular meteor entering the atmosphere created such a bright sight, Jay Reynolds indicated that it was probably because of the high altitude of the event. "It's been a long time since we've seen something like this," he observed. Based on reports submitted to the American Meteor Society, Reynolds theorized that the meteor ultimately finished breaking up around Youngstown, Ohio.