Very bright fireball over Northern Ireland and Scotland
Image credit: Chloe Barbour (stillshot)
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.
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.
References:
1 AMS event #6109-2022 – September 14 ,2022
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
Commenting rules and guidelines
We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules.