At around 12.25am on Monday, the blazing green ball was spotted by baffled people in Mundesley and Fakenham.
“Did anyone just see the ball of fire?” asked one person on Facebook. “Not a shooting star, silent, so not a missile.”
A Fakenham local posted a video on the same social media site, asking: “Does anyone know what this is?”
The “fireball” was spotted elsewhere around the UK, with doorbell footage from North Yorkshire showing the moment it blazed into a bright green inferno before vanishing.
Now, experts have said that it is a meteor, with the green flames indicating that it is rich in magnesium.
“Fireballs that explode in the atmosphere are technically referred to as bolides,” a spokesman for NASA explained.
“During the atmospheric entry phase, an impacting object is both slowed and heated by atmospheric friction.
“Objects causing fireballs are usually not large enough to survive passage through the Earth’s atmosphere intact.”
Those hoping to see a meteor shower soon might be able to spot the Lyrids, which will be visible from April 15 until 29.