Dramatic moment fireballs are seen flying across the sky as 'Chinese satellites enter atmosphere over Arkansas'

This is the astonishing moment streaking fireballs lit up the night sky as a Chinese satellite burned up and re-entered Earth's atmosphere.

The fireballs, which scientists have identified as Beijing's SuperView-1 02, were spotted soaring through the sky over Bryant, Arkansas around 10pm Sunday.

Thousands of residents in the southeastern US saw a beam of orange light travelling over their homes as the satellite broke apart and began its tumultuous return to Earth.

Many locals, including Reagan Jones, who posted video of the explosion on social media, thought they had witnessed a meteor shower, but scientists say that is not the case.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks spacecrafts, confirmed on X that the phenomenon was the commercial imaging satellite's 'uncontrolled reentry' into the atmosphere.

McDowell said the SuperView-1 02 was 'space junk' and had been 'dead as a doornail since January 2023'. 

He noted that officials knew the satellite was coming down on Sunday, they only had a '+2-hour accuracy estimate' so they weren't sure when or where it would occur.

The American Meteor Society received at least 120 reports of sightings across Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri after the satellite exploded.

McDowell claims the satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere above New Orleans, Louisiana at 10.08pm local time.

The satellite was heading northbound toward Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and 'widely observed' by residents across the southeastern US.

'The satellite has been space junk and dead as a doornail since January 2023. This was an uncontrolled reentry. We knew it was coming down today but only with +2-hour accuracy estimate so we didn't know where,' he tweeted.

According to McDowell, the SuperView-1 02 weights around 1/2 ton, making it small enough to 'almost entirely burn up'. He said it would be 'interesting' to see if any debris is found. 

'Maybe part of the propulsion system survived reentry since that tends to be dense,' he suggested.

McDowell's assertion that the lightshow spotted over Bryant was actually the satellite coming down was echoed by meteorologist Nathan Scott, who works at a CBS affiliate in nearby Little Rock.

'The brilliant display of fireballs last night over AR around 10pm was NOT meteors. It's a satellite known as Superview that burned up during expected reentry,' Scott tweeted.

He also claimed the beams of light were 'moving too slow' to be meteors, alleging that 'meteors last only a couple of secs'.

The SuperView-1 02 was originally launched from Taiyuan, China in 2016, NASA records reveal, and was operated by the Siwei Star Co. Ltd., Beijing.

It was comprised of four satellites, all orbiting in the same plane and at an altitude of 500 km.

The SuperView-1 02 was switched off nearly two years ago and had since been on downward drift towards Earth.