Meteor captured on camera streaking across sky in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas is fully living up to shining "big and bright" after it appears a meteor streaked across the sky Thursday night.

In the Killeen area, video from Christopher Cato shows the burst of light caught on his dash camera as it traveled through the atmosphere.

Others in Central Texas said they heard a loud boom.

One woman in Hempstead told ABC13 meteorologist Travis Herzog she spotted the blue flash, which bloomed into a turquoise jewel tone as it raced across the night sky.

Viewer Mary Ann Miron reported that she saw something unusual explode in the sky around 9:30 p.m. west of Highway 6 on FM 1736.

"A giant ball like a meteorite changed the rainbow spectrum of colors until it turned into a beautiful turquoise," Miron said. "I've seen shooting stars, but this was HUGE and colorful!"

NASA defines a meteor as a bit of rock that breaks off from an asteroid orbiting the sun. It burns when it enters Earth's atmosphere.

If part of the rock survives the trip through the atmosphere and hits the earth's surface, it becomes a meteorite.

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The Leonid meteor shower happened this weekend but Travis says there's no way to know if this particular meteor was part of that.

Did you spot the meteor burning across the sky on Thursday?

If so, you can report fireballs here to the American Meteor Society.

Several reports have already been filed on the site from people in Sealy, Katy and Houston.