Local

Possible meteor sighting captured on home video

All across our area, there have been reports of bright lights and loud booms connected to a possible meteor sighting.

NASA says the sightings have been a meteoroid entering the atmosphere.

Dozens of reports came pouring into the Action News Jax newsroom about a meteor sighting Saturday night.

People in a Live Oak neighborhood describe what they heard as a loud smack that almost sounded like a plane crash.

“We seen a bright light and as we looked up the best way I can describe it is it look(ed) like a large firework. But then there was a big ball of fire behind it and as quick as we seen it, it was gone,” said Tracie Sradley.

Spradley says she was on her porch around 11 p.m. when she and her family spotted what NASA says may have been a meteor.

“Just like the brightest, the prettiest -- it was actually gorgeous, it was beautiful,” Spradley said.

Minutes later a video was posted to YouTube taken at Jacksonville's Tinseltown movie theater.

Sunday YouTube user FearworksProductions posted a home video captured by security cameras that shows light moving through the sky.

“It just sounded like just thunder rolling in and lasted probably like a good five to 10 seconds,” Spradley said.

Then social media erupted, flooded with comments about the sighting.

Our Action News page had nearly 300 comments. The Columbia County Sheriff's Office and Lake City Police Department said they received dozens of phone calls.

The American Meteor Society said there were more than 100 reports from North Florida and as far away as Augusta, Georgia.

“I'm shocked, and surprised and can't believe that a meteor would hit anywhere, much less in our area,” said Stephen Dilley.

“It was definitely an experience. It kind of scared us at first, like, ‘Oh my God, what's going on.' But it was definitely worth seeing. I was glad I was out there,” Spradley said.

A meteor is the flash of light we see in the sky when a meteoroid burns as it passes through the atmosphere.

A meteorite is the piece that survives going through the atmosphere and lands on earth.

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