SURFSIDE, Texas – Many of KPRC Local 2 viewers noticed a fiery glow light up the sky Wednesday morning.
Capt. William Lowery was on his boat in the Freeport area when he saw a meteor fly across the sky in a brilliant orange flash around 3 a.m.
"Nothing like that magnitude," said Lowery. "I've seen shooting stars, but this lasted three to four minutes."
After the Russian meteor exploded across the sky, it prompted scientists to better identify large meteor and asteroid threats.
A team at the University of Hawaii is working on the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System or ATLAS with the help of NASA. Scientists are hoping to one day provide one- to three-week warnings for possible regional disasters.