Watch rocket debris break up in the sky

Debris from the Chinese carrier rocket Long March 7 (known in China as Chang Zheng 7) has broken up over western parts of the USA.

Witnesses in states from California to Colorado first spotted what appeared to be meteors in the sky around 9:30pm pacific time on Wednesday. Many took to social media to describe what they had seen and some even captured footage of the event.

It was later reported by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to  be debris from the second stage of the Long March 7 rocket.

The rocket was launched on June 25 and debris had been expected to re-enter on early Thursday morning.

There is yet to be an official comment from NASA or CNSA.