Fireball lights up night sky across Florida

TAMPA, Fla. - What appeared to be a fireball streaked across the sky in Florida on Monday night, stunning viewers.

Social media users posted videos showing the bright fireball across Florida and the Bahamas.

Some experts said the fireball could be the asteroid "2021 GW4" that was expected to skim past Earth within about 12,000 miles this week. 

However, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, said the object spotted in the sky had nothing to do with GW4.

An asteroid is a small, rocky object that orbits the sun, according to NASA. A meteor is what happens when a small piece of an asteroid or a comet burns up upon entering Earth's atmosphere, creating a streak of light across the sky.

The fireball was spotted around 10:16 p.m. 

FOX 13 Chief Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto says the possible meteor entered the atmosphere somewhere along Florida's east coast.

The National Weather Service said their GOES-16 Geostationary Lightning Mapper appeared to capture the meteor as it burned up off the coast.

FOX 35 contributed to this report.