In one of the biggest meteor events of 2021 to date, more than 250 people submitted reports of a large fireball in the air above Florida, which was believed to be a piece of an asteroid that burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The American Meteor Society said the fireball was spotted over Florida on Tuesday at 2:17 GMT and can be seen as far as Georgia. The AMS received 259 reports on the observation.
WOAH! Large flash and streak across sky in West Palm Beach. Moments ago happened while we were on Facebook Live for a @ CBS12 story. Work to find out what it was. pic.twitter.com/VDl9pFtb3h
– Jay O’Brien (@jayobtv) 13 April 2021
Most of the videos show a ball of fire coming down a steep angle before exploding in an orange flash and disappearing from the night sky.
The exact origin of the object was unclear. Some have speculated that it could be the G21 of 2021, a space crash as big as a car that had to pass between the earth and the moon – or a piece that broke off from it.
However, GW4 passed on Earth on Monday morning “Extraordinarily close” According to the Virtual Telescope Project in Europe, 12,000 miles.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Astronomer Jonathan McDowell said had the fireball over Florida “Nothing to do with GW4.”
AMS detection showed the space rock exploding off the east coast of Florida, and its remains are likely to be somewhere at the bottom of the ocean.
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