Apparent exploding meteor lights the night sky in California

April 11 (UPI) -- Experts said a ball of light that illuminated the night sky over Southern California was likely an exploding bolide, a particularly bright variety of meteor.

The ball of light was seen in the sky about 9 p.m. Monday and appeared to explode in a bright flash that temporarily illuminated the sky.

Faye Heddings was video chatting with a friend who was outside east of San Diego when the flash erupted in the sky behind her.

Footage Heddings posted to Twitter shows the woman quickly turn around and gasp at the light before asking her chat companions, "Did you guys see that?"

B.J. Serviss dashcam footage, recorded in the West Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, shows the object streak downward before casting its glow.

David Eli Martin tweeted video showing another angle of the fireball as it streaked over San Diego.

Dr. Ed Krupp, of Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory, hypothesized the object was an exploding bolide, a bright meteor that emits a flash of light when it breaks apart in the atmosphere.