Fireball lights up the night sky across Scotland

Hundreds of people across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England saw a ball of fire lighting up the night sky on Wednesday.

It was unclear whether it was a meteor or space debris, said Aine O’Brien, a doctoral student at the University of Glasgow and a member of the UK’s Fireball Alliance, which tracks meteor passes. The fireball was visible in the sky for 10 to 20 seconds – an unusually long period of time for a meteor – but the way the object fragmented in the night sky suggested it was a space rock.

Can’t believe I seen this and managed to catch it on camera!! Going over Paisley at 10pm☄️ #Glasgow #paisley #meteor #commit #fireball @UKMeteorNetwork @Daily_Record pic.twitter.com/mH9o2062nI

— Vanessa (@_vangal) September 14, 2022

“It has properties of both. We have people processing the footage and working out her trajectory,” said O’Brien. “Right now, we can only guess. Anyway, it was an amazing event.”

There have been nearly 800 reports of the fireball that was seen over UK last night. The preliminary trajectory has been calculated by the IMO and indicates that the object, which we now believe to be space debris, would have landed in the Atlantic south of the Hebrides. pic.twitter.com/skSvl0YH5Y

— UK Meteor Network (@UKMeteorNetwork) September 15, 2022

Here’s the footage from my Ring camera https://t.co/KiG3qOxYu6 pic.twitter.com/nhCD4P5HpP

— James Shampoo Williams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@james_w_89) September 14, 2022

Most fireballs are only visible for a few seconds, she said. A meteorite that hit a pavement in central England last year fell into the sky for seven seconds.

The fireball was detected around 10pm local time on Wednesday (14). The relatively early hour, plus the clear night sky, meant that many people saw the fireball even in areas like Glasgow, O’Brien said. Many of those lucky enough to see the fireball shared videos from cellphones and door cameras on social media.

Richard Kacerek, founder of the UK Meteor Observation Network, said the group’s initial assessment was that it was space debris. “Judging by the videos recorded by the public, it appears to be moving much slower than a meteor,” he said.

Wow — a meteor appears to have entered the earth’s atmosphere & crashed somewhere north of #Glasgowalong #Scotland‘s northwestern coast.pic.twitter.com/5E7h1uIdf5

— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) September 14, 2022

Cis Verbeeck, president of the International Meteor Organization, said the group received more than 800 reports on its website and then used that information to compile a possible trajectory of the fireball.

The fireball’s path suggested it passed through the Northern Channel, which separates Scotland from Northern Ireland, and ended its journey somewhere above Islay, an island off the west coast of Scotland.