Summary

On April 7th, 2020, a neon blue meteor, later classified as a fireball, was sighted over Miami, with reports spanning from Palmetto Bay to Palm Beach, and was captured in videos by multiple witnesses, including Viviana Márquez, a data scientist, mathematician, and journalist.

Abstract

A bright neon blue meteor was observed over Miami on the evening of April 7th, 2020, around 6:54 p.m., during daylight saving time. The phenomenon was described as a shooting star that split into multiple pellets, visible despite the daylight conditions. The event was witnessed by Viviana Márquez from the 23rd floor of the X Miami building and reported by others across a wide area, including Palmetto Bay and Palm Beach. Márquez, along with other Twitter users, shared videos and comments about the sighting. Subsequent to the event, Márquez filed a report with the American Meteor Society, which later recognized the sighting as the fireball event #1658–2020, with 38 reports and a computed trajectory that indicated the meteor passed directly over Márquez's location.

Opinions

Viviana Márquez, the author, expresses surprise and excitement about the meteor sighting, emphasizing its brightness and the fact that it was visible during daylight.
The author's millennial identity is highlighted as she immediately turns to Twitter to seek information and share her experience, indicating a reliance on social media for real-time information sharing.
The author seems to be well-versed in scientific reporting, as evidenced by her filing a detailed report with the American Meteor Society and understanding the criteria for a fireball classification.
There is a sense of community and shared experience in the author's mention of multiple witnesses and the collective effort to document and report the event.
The author's professional background as a data scientist, mathematician, and journalist lends credibility to her account and her analysis of the event.
The author notes the lack of local news coverage at the time of writing, which may imply a gap in traditional media's responsiveness to unexpected events compared to social media's immediacy.
The update on April 12th reflects the author's ongoing interest and investigation into the event, showing a commitment to following up on the story and sharing new information with the public.

Meteor sighting in Miami on April 7th, 2020 at 6:50 p.m.

Still capture from @AlgorithmBroken’s Twitter video.

Last evening I was having dinner in my balcony with someone when suddenly he yelled “Woah!” pointing east to the sky. Before our eyes, a neon blue shooting start split into multiple pellets like a shotgun. One second it was there and the next it was over our heads and gone with a vibrating woosh.

It was around 6:54 p.m., but since we are on daylight savings time on the East coast, it was still daytime outside. The “meteor” (I use quotes because I still don’t know what it was for sure) was so bright that we were able to see it.

The “meteor” headed from West to East. We were at the X Miami building right in front of Bayside in Downtown Miami on the 23rd floor. (Lat: 25.76876, Lon: -80.19640 to be exact.) My building has 30 floors and it felt like if it had 50, the “meteor” would’ve hit it.

Then, as the millennial that I am, I went on to Twitter right away to find out what it was.

Soon after, I found others reporting the same sighting as south as Palmetto Bay and as north as Palm Beach! That spans 85 miles!

This is the only video I was able to find about it, it was so fast that I’m surprised anyone was able to capture it!

At the time of writing (April 8th at 9:00 a.m.), to my knowledge, no report of this “meteor” has been made on any of the local news outlets.

I filed a report of this sighting to the American Meteor Society. In their website, they describe as Fireball as a small asteroid (meteor) entering the atmosphere brighter than the planet Venus. Our unknown object seems to meet all the requirements to be a Fireball.

Update on April 12th: I just found out that the American Meteor Society recognized this sighting as the Fireball event #1658–2020. To date, there are 38 reports with some of them as far as Melbourne and as west as Babson Park! The website automatically computed the trajectory of the meteorite using all the recounts and it seems that, in fact, it went right above my head!

Event #1658–2020 reports. In blue, computed trajectory of the fireball.

About me: Viviana Márquez (@vivmarquez) Data Scientist, Mathematician, and Journalist. Miami, Fl.