A meteor streaked across the UK sky on Monday evening, amazing stargazers.
“Reports of a meteor in the sky over the UK just now. If you managed to take any footage, we’d love to see it,” tweeted the Met Office.
The public responded with clips and reports from London, Hertfordshire and Wolverhampton, among others.
Laura, who did not wish to give her surname, from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, caught the flying object on camera at about 8pm from her front room.
Her video showed a light streaking through the sky above a residential area for a little less than 10 seconds before disappearing from view.
“I had just turned my computer off and looked up out of the window — it was perfect timing,” she said.
“It wasn’t like a shooting star I have seen in the past. It seemed overwhelmingly close.
“It was large in the sky, orange with an orange blaze behind it, not what I would describe as a long shooting star tail but a shorter orange one.
“Then it just disappeared … popped out of the sky. It seemed like it hadn’t really happened. I tried to tell my husband but they didn’t quite believe my account!”
Meteor seen over UK — in pictures
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A bright meteor was spotted flying over parts of England and Scotland on Saturday evening. Photo: Andrew Morl / Grassholme Observatory -
The UK Fireball Network said it was travelling at fast speeds of 31.7 kilometres per second. Photo: UK Fireball Network -
Meteors are pieces of debris from space that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, causing a bright streak across the skies and appearing as ‘shooting stars’. Photo: UK Fireball Network -
Many Twitter users also reported seeing the space rock, which flew across the sky for about six seconds. Photo: UK Fireball Network
A Met Office spokesman said the time of day and clear skies contributed to the quality of the sightings.
