SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Fiery space debris lit up the night sky over the Golden State on Thursday, sparking hundreds of reports from residents and leaving many to wonder what they had witnessed.

The American Meteor Society said that within the first 24 hours after the event, it received more than 200 accounts from witnesses ranging from near the California-Oregon border southward to areas outside Los Angeles.

Videos from Oakland, the Bay Area and near Fresno showed the bright orange streak, with many calling the sighting a fireball. But astronomers who track debris believe the event was of human origin rather than from a natural source.

According to professional astronomers, who regularly monitor objects in orbit, the debris aligned with the trajectory of a SpaceX Starlink satellite that w

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