Numerous eyewitnesses in the state of Florida reported seeing a bright fireball at 11:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time on July 18, 2019 (2019 July 19 3:31 UTC). The event was also observed by three NASA all sky meteor cameras in the region (located at KSC, Embry-Riddle University, and the University of Central Florida), and an analysis of their data indicates that the meteor became visible at an altitude of 59 miles above Sweet Bay Island, to the southeast of St. Cloud, Florida. Moving northwest at 56,000 miles per hour, the half-foot diameter, 12 pound fragment of an asteroid traveled 47 miles through the atmosphere before breaking apart 23 miles above the town of Monteverde, on the western side of Lake Apopka. This fragmentation produced a brilliant flare rivalling the Full Moon, which was detected by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard the GOES 16 weather satellite.
Event ID | 20190719-033056 |
Date (UTC) | July 19, 2019 |
Time (UTC) | 03:30:56 |
AMS Event | 3029-2019 |
Origin | asteroidal |
NASA Camera Start Lat/Lon | +28.149, -81.128 |
NASA Camera End Lat/Lon | +28.585, -81.683 |
NASA Camera Altitude | 94.9 km → 37.0 km ( 59.0 miles→ 23.0 miles) |
NASA Camera Speed | 25.0 km/s (55,900 mph) |