A bright fireball shot across the night sky over southern Florida on Monday night around 8 p.m. MT, Live Science reports, and several local news personnel and home security systems caught footage of the meteor’s descent and dramatic explosion.
Here’s a sampling from the dozens of videos posted on Twitter that night and the following morning:
USA Today reports the fireball was likely part of an asteroid, based on the size, speed and trajectory. The site added that the jury is still out regarding whether the rock is debris from 2021 GW4, a car-sized asteroid that zoomed past Earth that same night.
According to CNET, 2021 GW4 passed over Earth at an altitude of over 9,000 miles, while the Florida fireball started to burn up as it crossed into the top of our atmosphere, which is estimated to be about 60 miles high.
USA Today adds that the Florida fireball was likely a meteoroid, clarifying that asteroids are objects larger than 3.2 feet in diameter.
Regarding the Florida fireball, Mike Hankey, the operations manager for the American Meteor Society, stated, “This was a nice chunk but I doubt it was anywhere near (3.2 feet). ... More likely it was in the softball to basketball range” (via USA Today).
The American Meteor Society suspects the meteoroid was likely traveling northward over the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between Florida and the Bahamas, CNET reports, adding that if any materials survived the explosion, they’re likely resting on the ocean floor.
As previously reported by the Deseret News, a similar cosmic event lit up the night sky over Vermont in early March.