RIVERVIEW, Fla. (WFLA) — It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a meteor!
A woman in Riverview captured a once-in-a-lifetime moment last Friday while doing some evening yard work: a bright, flaming meteor falling from the sky.
Elli Merritt said she spotted it at around 7:25 p.m. on Sept. 25 and pulled out her phone to start recording. She told 8 On Your Side that she ran to get her husband from the backyard to show him, but it was already gone by the time they returned.
That's pretty typical for a passing meteor, they're usually only visible for a few seconds before disappearing from view, according to the American Meteor Society.
A plane was passing over the area at the same time, and Merritt shows both on camera to give some indication of just how large the meteor was.
While it's difficult