Very bright fireball over Northern Ireland and Scotland

uk fireball september 14 2022

A very bright fireball was seen in the sky between Northern Ireland and Scotland at 20:57 UTC on September 14, 2022. The event lasted more than 20 seconds and traveled NW, passing directly over Belfast.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) and UK Meteor Network (UKMON) received more than 1 000 reports1 from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England.

The initial trajectory based on the reports shows that the fireball entered the atmosphere north of Lock Ryan and ended north of Islay Island.

uk fireball september 14 2022 heatmap
UK fireball heatmap and trajectory – September 14, 2022. Credit: AMS

On September 15, UKMON said they believed the fireball was created by space debris but after more data provided by Denis Vida, a meteor physics postdoctoral researcher at Western University, it’s now clear the object was a small part of an asteroid.

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References:

1 AMS event #6109-2022 – September 14 ,2022

Featured image credit: Chloe Barbour (stillshot)

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