A fireball visible from Florida is likely to be a meteorite, experts say

SUNRISE, Fla. – Did you see him on Monday night? The amazing streak of light across the night sky that was seen along Florida’s Atlantic coast?

Although there are still questions about its origin, experts say it was probably a meteor.

“What we do know is that it’s definitely a meteor that came in. Now, where it originated is up for debate,” said Jason Matter, vice president of the South Florida Amateur Astronomy Association. “Some people think it could have been part of the 2021 GW4 Asteroid that was happening very close to Earth, maybe a piece broke and went into Earth or it could have been something else we just haven’t seen.”

Dr. Angela Colbert of the Frost Science Museum said that while there are many possibilities, a meteor is “most likely. It could have even been a piece of space that fell and jumped into the atmosphere for some reason.

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Colbert, Frost’s VP Knight of Education, said that unfortunately we will probably never know for sure, because he never touched the earth’s surface.

“This happens all the time around the world, so formal investigation may never happen,” he said. “We may never quite know what that is.”

Matter also said that meteors hit the Earth’s atmosphere quite often, but what made it so unique was the number of people who saw it.

“Usually, when something comes in, it comes in, it burns and it burns pretty quickly. This was seen from North Florida to the Bahamas, so the burn lasted quite a while, ”Matter said.

Home surveillance cameras and webcams captured him at 10:16 p.m.

The green color shown by some clips is due to the nickel of the meteor burning while traveling.

As to why he produced this big flash, Colbert said there is an explanation as well.

“It could have been the way it hit the atmosphere that created this big one known as a fireball,” Colbert said. “It’s called a fireball when there’s a flash brighter than the brightness of Venus in the night sky.”

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