A fiery burst of light shot across the dark night sky Saturday night, leaving many residents in Louisiana and across the Mississippi Coast wondering if it was an astronomical phenomenon.

The fireball was reported around 10 p.m., with people sharing videos of what appeared to be a burst of fiery light shooting across the sky.

People from New Orleans to Biloxi and as far east as Alabama posted videos of the appearance, with theories abound popping up on Facebook as to what caused it.

Some claimed it was meteor shower, while others said a shooting star. But it was actually a Chinese satellite explosion, according to astronomers and local and national media outlets.

Astronomer and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told BNO news he identified the fireball as falling debris from a satellite that went dead in January 2023.

McDowell said the satellite, GaoJing 1-02, re-entered the atmosphere over New Orleans at 10:08 p.m. The space debris could be seen in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. A few people on X reported seeing the remnants of the fireball as far north as Germantown, Tennessee.

Exploding debris like this is referred to as "space junk" and is fairly common. WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge said these kinds of explosions can happen often but aren't always seen by the average eye.

"It's common for space junk like satellites to crash into Earth and burn up," said Zack Fradella, a meteorologist at WVUE-TV in New Orleans, on X.