Fiery streak like a 'Roman candle' lights up morning skies in Florida

[Buster's Uncle]

Daytona Beach News-Journal
Fiery streak like a 'Roman candle' lights up morning skies in Volusia, Flagler
Sheldon Gardner, Daytona Beach News-Journal
Sat, November 8, 2025 at 11:51 AM EST
2 min read



A mysterious fireball streaked across Volusia and Flagler skies early morning on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025


Objects that sent fiery streaks across the sky had Central Florida residents looking up and grabbing their cameras on Saturday morning, Nov. 8.

One of those residents was David Tucker, of Ormond Beach. Tucker, a former News-Journal photographer, was out in his yard enjoying a cup of coffee around 6:17 a.m. when he saw the objects in the sky.

"It kind of looked like a Roman candle or something when I first saw it," Tucker said.

He watched it travel across the sky and out of sight. A few minutes later, Tucker heard a big boom, he said.


So what was the fiery streak that tore across Volusia County skies?

After reviewing the video, Dean Oswalt, professor of physics and astronomy at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University. He said via text message that it's "definitely space junk."

He added that sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between space junk and a meteor. But there are some clues.

"If it lasted a long time, it was bright and it looked like it was falling apart into streaks and separate pieces, it probably is a piece of space junk because they tend to last longer because they're bigger objects and they tend to disintegrate and create a bit more show than a typical meteor shower," Oswalt said.


American Meteor Society: Streaking objects most likely spent rocket, satellite

Robert Lunsford, fireball program coordinator for the American Meteor Society, agreed that it was mostly likely space junk.

"The object seen over Florida this morning was not a fireball. It was most likely the reentry of a spent rocket body from one of the recent launches. Unfortunately none of my sources can pinpoint just which one it was," he responded in an email.

"Another possibility is the reentry of a satellite. These reentries are common these days and are often mistaken for fireballs. Real fireballs enter the atmosphere at a high velocity and are seldom visible for more than a few seconds. Space debris enter at a much slower velocity and are often visible for a minute or longer."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fiery-streak-roman-candle-lights-165128365.html