Fireballs light up sky across Midlands
by Lisa Hartle
Police were inundated with reports of "fireballs in the sky" last night as a large meteor lit up the sky across the Midlands.
Many people mistook the meteor for aircraft or something more sinister and contacted the police reporting fireballs or 'suspicious lights in the sky'.
One eye witness in Great Barr said she saw a large ball of light trail across the sky for around 6 seconds as she looked out of the window at 11.00pm last night (Friday 21 September):
– Jean Davis"I thought it was three planes flying behind one another to begin with, but then thought it had too many lights, I said aloud to myself
"what is that, what is that?"
"It never occurred to me it could be a meteor because I'd never seen one before, it just looked like a large lump of fire with smaller ones trailing behind."
Many people took to Twitter to report their sightings:
Driving up the M6 near Stoke I thought the world was about to end. Turns out it was a meteor.
From @OliH88 on Twitter:Big fireball / meteor travelling north over stoke-on-Trent just now
From @hypocentre on Twitter:I've just seen what looked like a pretty huge #meteor shooting westwards across north Birmingham.
From @BrummyInLondon on Twitter:Gary Fildes the lead astronomer at the public research facility the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland said this was the largest, "best one by far" meteor he has ever seen:
– Gary Fildes, Head Astronomer, Kielder Observatory"It was the largest, most spectacular meteor I have ever seen. There were 25 of us observing last night when we spotted something.
"Some people initially thought it was a helicopter the light was so bright, but we soon realised it was a meteor."
Gary Fildes said some people grew scared at one point as it looked as though the meteor was going to hit them.
– Gary Fildes, Head Astronomer, Kielder Observatory"We are 300 metres above sea level so we had a good view of it, it was in the sky for around 40 seconds, people did feel worried at one point as it looked as though it was heading straight for us."
There is speculation today that the 'fireball in the sky' was actually 'space junk' burning up in the atmosphere but the astronomer thinks there is too much evidence against this theory.
Mr Fildes says there was a huge surge in meteor activity before the large meteor was spotted and then afterwards, suggesting to him it was in fact a meteor.
He also says it was coloured slightly green suggesting the presence of metals like copper or iron, plus it was travelling East to West which Gary says would be unlikely for 'space junk' to do.
For more on this story see ITV National News site.