FORT MYERS, Fla. – Did you see the flashing streak of light that crossed the dark sky on Monday night? If you did not do so, your home security camera can.
NBC2 has received numerous eyewitness reports of the strange burst of light and a lot of surveillance footage from nearby cameras called us social media.
The Tampa Bay National Weather Service said the strange incident was a bright meteor that burned on the coast of Florida.
In fact, the meteor would make a pass through Florida. However, it seemed to be sneaking a little closer than expected.
Meteors are rocky or pieces of metal from space that emit light as they fly through the earth’s atmosphere. The friction they endure as they get closer to our planet causes them to burn up or evaporate, causing the fiery streak in the sky that so many people saw last night.
Meteors are in all shapes and sizes (some may be smaller than a grain of rice), and therefore many people do not survive the journey to the earth’s surface. When seen one by one, meteors are often called shooting stars. Several meteors that are seen close to each other are called meteor showers.
There were at least 200 reports on Tuesday morning of witnesses in Florida reporting the meteor’s fireball appearance to the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) last night. The IMO is a global network of meteorologists observing and studying meteor reports. You can see on a map where each report comes from, along with the suggested photos and videos from the IMO here.
Weather satellites placed in space to monitor things like cloud cover and lightning also got a brief look at the fireball. The National Weather Service in Tampa has a photo from the GOES-16 satellite using the geostationary lightning mapper which also recorded the meteor’s illumination. It is in the red circle around the satellite image below.
Although seeing a meteor is remarkable and can seem like a one-time experience, you may be surprised to hear that the material meteors are away from rain and that they regularly fly past the earth. In fact, according to NASA, about 48.5 tons of “meteoric material” falls every day! To put this in perspective, think of an African elephant. A large adult elephant can weigh up to 7 tons. So if you were to round up seven of the largest elephants you would find on the African savannah, it would be about the same weight as falling to the ground daily. This is because so much of this material is small and burns so fast that it is such a captivating experience to see the big meteor fireballs like last night.
Do you have a video of last night’s meteor? Send us your photos and videos to [email protected].