Picture of the Day: Chinese Rocket Breaks Up Over North America

People across a wide swath of the West, from Arizona to Canada, looked up at the sky late Monday to see a cluster of weird lights followed by an orange tail streaking across the night.

The lights were not a meteor, but a Chinese rocket booster that broke apart, said Maj. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. Strategic Command.

There were no reports of damage or injuries, O’Donnell said, pointing to statistics showing there is a 1 in a trillion chance of being hit by space debris.

Canadian photographer Neil Zeller was on his way home from shooting the Northern Lights when he saw the cluster of fireballs in a rural area outside of Calgary about 11 p.m. local time.

“I’d never seen anything like it,” he said. He captured several shots of an orange streak slashed above dark trees. (AP)