Video: American sky fireball can be Chinese rocket

China's missile fragment could be the cause of a fireball phenomenon in the US sky on February 23.

Officials from the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) identified the object on Feb. 23 in the US sky as a Chinese missile fragment. The missile was used to launch the Yaogan Weixing-26 satellite in December last year.

"Based on information from calls and emails, I am almost certain that it is cosmic garbage," IB Times quoted Patrick Wiggins, NASA's ambassador, affirming.

Light streaks caused by fireballs.(Photo taken from video)

Cosmic garbage is a part of missiles, inactive satellites or debris and many other components. This is a concern of many space organizations around the world. In 2013, the European Space Agency (ESA) called for solutions to eliminate and handle this type of waste. At least 29,000 pieces of cosmic trash about 10 cm in length are in orbit of the Earth.

The American Meteorological Research Association (AMS) on February 23 received at least 198 reports of the mysterious sky phenomenon from witnesses in Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Utah states.

According to their description, fireballs glide through the sky at a slow speed, lasting about 45 seconds. Many images have been uploaded to the Internet, suggesting that light trails in the sky are fire bridges and meteors.