"They are completely unrelated objects -- it's a strange coincidence they are happening at the same time," said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"This kind of object does fall fairly frequently, but when they fall into the ocean or desert, there is no impact on people -- so this one is unusual in the sense that it's come over a populated area," Yeomans said.

Cole said he wasn't aware whether scientists had foreseen the meteor's entry into the atmosphere.

Because meteoroids are small, they are hard to spot and there is often little warning that they are heading toward Earth, he said.