PUERTO RICO. (THECOUNT) — National Weather Service satellites captured what appeared to be a meteor streaking across Puerto Rico at around 4:30 p.m. EST Friday.

The bright “fireball” shot across the sky in Puerto Rico Friday afternoon, prompting local residents to speculate on what it was, and to wonder if it was a bad omen for the already disaster-stricken island.

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Scientists detected the incoming asteroid they believe was the “size of a car.”

An astronomy professor in Puerto Rico and vice president of the Caribbean Astronomy Society, Eddie Irizarry, told AP that he had received reports of the phenomenon from all over the island, saying that it was “a rare event”. The professor surmised that the celestial body must have been a couple of feet in length, reports SOTT.

An eyewitness has told reporters that he thought the fireball was something catastrophic given the recent earthquakes that shook the territory.

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Geo quick facts: Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island and unincorporated U.S. territory with a landscape of mountains, waterfalls and the El Yunque tropical rainforest. In San Juan, the capital and largest city, the Isla Verde area is known for its hotel strip, beach bars and casinos. Its Old San Juan neighborhood features colorful Spanish colonial buildings and El Morro and La Fortaleza, massive, centuries-old fortresses – wikipedia.