A video has emerged showing a spectacular fireball meteor fly over parts of Wales on Wednesday night. It comes after the UK Network Fireball Alliance (UKFA) said the large fireball was spotted at 11.39pm on Wednesday, May 11, while some people saw a "bright green" fireball while others heard a sonic boom.
In Wales, sightings were shared on social media from people across the UK including in Merthyr Tydfil, Pembrokeshire and the Vale of Glamorgan. The UKFA is asking for images and any video footage to be reported to them.
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Sightings of fireball meteors are rare, even though several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth’s atmosphere every day, according to International Meteor Organization. The vast majority of these, however, happen over the oceans and uninhabited regions, or are hidden in broad daylight.
One that was lucky to catch the footage on camera was Wayne Clayton from Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire. He captured the rare sighting thanks to the ring camera in his garden.
He said: "Myself and my wife were in Somerset on holiday at the time. We had a notification saying there was motion in our garden. When we looked and saw that thing in the sky, we were pretty shocked in all fairness".
Responding on Facebook, WalesOnline reader, Kerry Mackay, said: "Saw it here in Glyn Ceiriog. Spectacular sight!". Marcus Jonus added: "I witnessed this years ago while driving on M4 eastbound between Bridgend and Cardiff. Guess it explains what I saw".
Georgina Glover said: 2I saw it last night too, the street started lighting up in really bright flashes , I looked up to see it flying over spitting sparks and then it just disappeared."
Planetary scientist Ashley James King tweeted saying 200 reports had been made of fireballs, adding reports are used to work out where the object came from and whether any meteorites had reached the ground. To get the latest news from across Wales, subscribe to our newsletters here.
