Apparent rocket debris lights up night sky over Pacific Northwest

A streak of light in the night sky over much of the Pacific Northwest Thursday spurred plenty of speculation among earthlings. Turns out its origin was apparently very earthly: space junk re-entering the atmosphere.

As CBS Portland, Oregon affiliate KOIN-TV put it, "Was that a meteor? Space junk? Aliens? Probably not. … Whatever it was, it lit up the night sky over Oregon just after 9 p.m. … drawing gasps of wonder and many posts to social media. "The sight was summed up by @kaallori: "Meteor? I don't know what that was, but it was spectacular.'"