People living in the north of England, and as far afield as Scotland and Ireland, were stunned as a "giant fireball" flew across the night sky.
A large meteor was seen passing over the country on Wednesday night, with several images and videos appearing on social media. Some witnesses claimed the object was so low as it passed that they could hear it, the Mirror reports.
BBC weather presenter Barra Best shared several tweets which showed the meteor glowing brightly in the night sky with a tail behind it. One Twitter user said: “Hi Barra, spotted this just now. At first I thought it was a firework, no noise and it didn't explode quickly got my phone out, are we due any meteor showers or anything?”
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Another said: “Did I legit just see a shooting star in or is that something crashing out the sky?”
The Daily Mail reported that the UK Meteor Network had received in excess of 200 reports from members of the public about a fireball in the sky. There were further reports of a loud bang as the mysterious object entered the earth's atmosphere.
Stephanie Sharp said: “Spotted in West Cumbria looking West over the Solway at approx 22:00, very long tail and slow trailing through the sky. I’ve seen similar fireballs in the past 10 years, but nothing as spectacular as this!”
Twitter user Greg Hughes said it was "green and lighting up the sky" and referred to a "loud bang a short time later.”
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