ASTRONOMERS examining the mysterious fireball which crossed Scotland’s night sky have said it is likely to have been space junk from Elon Musk’s satellite programme.
The UK Meteor Network said the fireball was visible for 20 seconds just after 10pm on Wednesday night.
Many Scots took to social media to share what they had seen with the network saying they received almost 800 reports from across Scotland, Northern Ireland and England.
Videos appeared to show an object breaking up over the night sky as it headed north-west.
John Maclean, an astronomer with the network, said it was likely to have been space junk because it was not travelling quick enough to be a meteor.
And he added it was most likely a Starlink satellite from Musk’s SpaceX company.
Speaking to The Guardian, he said: “What we’re looking at at the moment is a Starlink satellite, which was actually due to deorbit or re-enter atmosphere today, but it is possible it could have deorbited slightly earlier.”
Thousands of these satellites, designed to disintegrate upon re-entering the atmosphere, have been launched by Musk’s company to provide internet connection.
The UK Meteor Network said on social media earlier that if any of it landed, it would have been in “the Atlantic south of the Hebrides”.
Maclean said: "If you look at the videos, the way it breaks up is more consistent with a piece of space debris.
"Meteors do break up when they come through the atmosphere, but usually near the end of their trajectory. This was breaking up much higher."
He said Starlink satellites "deorbit quite regularly, because they only have a finite lifespan in space."
Maclean continued: "We're expecting in excess of 40,000 satellites in the next few years. Soon one out of every five objects you see in the night sky could be a satellite, which is going to cause great problems for astronomers.
"I would certainly think we are likely to see more of these fireballs given the number of satellites that Musk, and others, including Amazon, are putting up."
Musk's SpaceX was also said to be behind a mysterious trail of lights seen in the skies above Fife in February.
SpaceX has been contacted for comment.
