Orange Fireball Lights Up Florida Sky, Ignites Conspiracies
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — Look, up in the sky!
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's an….orange fireball?
Conspiracy theorists took to social media in a flurry of excitement after a mysterious flying object resembling an orange fireball streaked across the Florida sky.
The American Meteor Society reported two dozen sightings from Jacksonville to Key West early Wednesday, and tweeted there's "no real explanation yet."
Even the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office joined in on the fun after receiving reports about the mysterious lights, posting on social media "we were not invaded last night by Martians, but we appreciate the level of confidence you have of us to stop intergalactic invaders."
Did you see it? Over 23 reports have come in of a fireball seen early this morning. This was not a meteor but space debris likely from a satellite reentry. The map shows how far away the reports were made with the arrow representing the path of the debris. @cbsmiami pic.twitter.com/ejOIlZrwvn
— Dave Warren (@DaveWarrenCBS4) July 3, 2019
The meteor society's operation manager Mike Hankey later told The Palm Beach Post he's certain it was space debris, breaking apart in the atmosphere.
He says the sightings were only hours off the debris' estimated re-entry time.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)