'Meteor shower' seen in Washington was debris from SpaceX rocket launch

What looked like a meteor shower seen throughout Western Washington had many in awe Thursday night.

According to the National Weather Service of Seattle, the mysterious meteor-like objects were not meteorites at all, but debris from a rocket launch.

NWS Seattle said the debris that burned in the atmosphere was from the Falcon 9 rocket owned by SpaceX.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the rocket launch debris failed to break up from the launch that happened nearly three weeks ago. 

Shooting debris from Falcon 9 second stage launch seen throughout Western Washington. Photo credit: Ryan Hudson.

The debris could be spotted around 9 p.m. Thursday. Many viewers saw debris shoot across the sky in the Seattle area and as far as Tacoma and Ocean Shores. 

Officials said no land impacts or injuries were reported from the debris Thursday night.

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