[ad_1]
LONDON – It was as brief as it was brilliant. For seven seconds, people across Britain who found themselves casting their eyes skyward shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday were treated to the sight of a fireball-shaped meteor lighting up the sky.
A witness described on Twitter “a huge flash” which “burst into a huge tail of orange sparks trailing behind like giant fireworks.”
Images captured by security cameras across England in places such as Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire and Solihull showed the meteor flashing brighter and brighter as it crossed the sky before disintegrating.
The bright flash of light is emitted when an object in space – from something as small as a grain of sand to a towering monster like an asteroid – enters Earth’s atmosphere and begins to burn.
While millions of people might “wish for a star” upon seeing the incredible light show in the sky, they actually wish for a meteor. If something survives the trip and lands on Earth, then it is known as a meteorite.
Richard Kacerek, co-founder of the UK Meteor Network, a group of amateur meteor watchers, said their cameras detected the meteor at 9:54 p.m. in Wiltshire, England.
“We think it was a piece of a comet or something softer like an asteroid that hit the atmosphere,” he said.
In this case, the fireball appeared to be moving slowly, he said, meaning it was visible longer in the sky. However, some people have reported hearing a sonic boom, which would suggest that a relatively large object was moving at a high speed as it accelerated close to the earth.
“The second half of the flight, we could see different pieces falling,” he said, and it was possible that some survived as meteorites.
Hundreds of people across England and as far north as Scotland and Northern Ireland said they saw the meteor on the network, Mr Kacerek said.
For amateur astronomers, the sight of a meteor crossing the sky is not particularly uncommon: around three or four of them appear per year.
Still, usually at this time of year, the full moon makes meteors harder to see, Kacerek said. “It was an exception. It was a very, very bright meteor that overpowered the brightness of the moon.
For those who were not on the lookout, the meteor was a pleasant surprise.
“It’s always an amazing and once in a lifetime event to see a really bright fireball unless you’re like us and you’re watching them and looking for them,” Mr. Kacerek said. “For normal witnesses, seeing something like this is definitely a highlight.”
[ad_2]
Source link