Bright fireball over Florida probably caused by space junk.

Witnesses In Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas have reported observing a bright fireball meteor at about 6.15 am local time (about 11.15 am GMT) on Saturday 8 November 2025, with some witnesses in Florida and Georgia also reporting a sonic boom. The fireball is described as having moved from northwest to southeast, appearing over southern Georgia and disappearing off the east coast of Florida. A fireball is defined as a meteor (shooting star) brighter than the planet Venus. 

The 8 November 2025 Florida fireball seen from the Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve in Titusville, Florida. Richard Gallagher/Florida Today.

Such are typically caused by pieces of rock burning up in the atmosphere, but can be the result of man-made space-junk burning up on re-entry, which appears to have been the case on 8 November. The object was visibly quite large, was relatively slow moving, and could be seen to break into a number of pieces as it passed through the atmosphere, none of which are conclusively signs of a man made object, but which combined together make this more likely. However, the nature of that object is unclear; the most common explanation for such re-entries is material falling back to Earth from a rocket launch, but while such a launch had been planned in Florida for that morning, it had not been due until an hour after the fireball event, and was eventually cancelled due to weather concerns.

Heat map showing areas where sightings of the meteor were reported (warmer colours indicate more sightings), and the apparent path of the object (blue arrow). American Meteor Society.

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