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Brilliant Fireball Wows Skywatchers, Rattles Windows In Florida

WATCH: Brilliant Fireball Lights Up Night Sky, Rattles Windows
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By 

Associate Science Editor, The Huffington Post

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Skywatchers in northern Florida got a thrill on Saturday when a brilliant fireball streaked across the night sky. And one Jacksonville resident who didn't get to see the bolide in person was lucky enough to catch it on her backyard security camera (see video above).

"It's an awe-striking situation when you can kind of see those things," Kandace Gaddie told local television station WJXT after watching her video. "You feel like the little ant on the planet, basically."

Over 230 people, from West Palm Beach to Augusta, Ga., reported spotting the fireball--and nearly 50 of those people reported hearing a loud "window rattling" boom after seeing it, according to the American Meteor Society.

(Story continues below map.)

Fireball sightings with booms heard in #Florida #AmericanMeteorSociety #space http://t.co/c6LHsxgUky pic.twitter.com/rC6CtiBDUa

— Space Trends (@Spaceolizer) February 23, 2015

The society believes the fireball was traveling northeast before crashing to the ground.

“The fact that people heard sonic booms [means] it did survive down to the lower atmosphere," Robert Lunsford, the society's treasurer, told the station. "So there's a good chance that some small fragments may have reached the ground probably about 50 miles west of Jacksonville.”

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Before You Go

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