(CNN) It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … meteor flashing in the Indiana night sky.
Residents of Hamilton County, Indiana, had an out-of-this-world opportunity to witness a meteor Friday night.
Residents reported what they thought was an explosion due to loud noises and flashing lights, according to a tweet from Hamilton County Emergency Management.
The agency’s “current theory” is that the sound and light were caused by a sonic boom from a meteor.
Kentucky pilots spotted a meteor to the north and the lightning detection center picked up signals in Carroll County, Hamilton County Emergency Management reported.
Videos taken by residents and published by CNN affiliate WTHR show a bright light shining through the sky. Several videos also captured the roaring sound the meteor caused.
Hamilton County Emergency Management thanks the National Weather Service and FAA for helping them “quickly figure out what’s going on.”
A meteor is a piece of space rock that enters the earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA. The bright streak with the appearance of a “shooting star” is actually the extremely hot air produced by the meteor. Rocks usually burn up in the earth’s atmosphere before reaching the ground.
Indiana’s twinkling lights fall during the Lyrids, one of the oldest recorded meteor showers. Meteors from the shower are expected to be most frequent Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning.
It is located in the county of Hamilton County and the state of Indiana, in the east
