Fireballs light up North America skies as Chinese rocket booster breaks up

The strange cluster of lights followed by an orange tail streaked across the night sky, leaving people across a wide swathe of the North American west scratching their heads.

Turns out the lights - seen from Arizona to Canada - were not a meteor, but a Chinese rocket booster that broke apart.

Canadian photographer Neil Zeller was on his way home from shooting the Northern Lights when he saw the cluster of fireballs in a rural area outside of Calgary about 11pm on Monday local time.

"I'd never seen anything like it," he said.

He captured several shots of an orange streak slashed above dark trees. More than 150 people reported seeing the group of about three dozen fireballs, said Mike Hankey of the American Meteor Society.

It lingered in the sky for more than a minute, showing the slow movement that is a sure sign of a man-made object re-entering from space, he said. Natural meteors last just a few seconds.

"It was pretty significant - over 150 reports is a lot. It covered a real wide range," Hankey said.