Meteor lights up sky over southern US

NASA officials say brilliant lights and loud booms reported across the southern US came from a meteor.

Officials at the Marshall Space Flight Center say a fragment of a comet entered Earth's atmosphere yesterday night.

NASA officials say the meteor travelled at a speed of 76,000 mph. 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.