The huge fireball spotted in the sky over Edinburgh and the Lothians was 'a small part of an asteroid', experts have confirmed.
Edinburgh Live reported how locals were left stunned as the shooting object appeared shortly after 9pm on Wednesday, September 14. There were over 200 sightings throughout the country, with many taking place across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
READ MORE - Edinburgh to see Queen Elizabeth II funeral streamed on huge Holyrood Park screen
The UK Meteor Network have now confirmed that they are '100% confident' it was a small part of an asteroid, which becomes classified as a meteor when it burns up upon entering Earth's atmosphere.
The scientists say the end of the meteor's journey was not observed on their cameras, but it definitely ended over the North Atlantic Ocean around 50-100km west of the Isle of Islay.
The UK Meteor Network said: "The final analysis is in! The fireball over NI and Scotland last night was definitely a meteor. The fireball observed yesterday (Sept 14, 20:59:40 UT) above the UK lasted over 20 seconds and traveled NW, passing directly over Belfast.
"The end was not observed on our cameras, but it definitely ended over the North Atlantic Ocean some 50-100 km west of the Isle of Islay.
"It came on an asteroidal orbit and entered the atmosphere at 14.2 km/s. The observed portion of the trajectory covered over 300 km. If any meteorites did fall, they ended up in the ocean.
"We have a great deal of more data thanks to Denis Vida and we are now 100% confident this was a small part of an asteroid."
Reports of the blazing space matter started coming in at about 9pm on Wednesday, mainly from Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Steve Owens, an astronomer and science communicator at the Glasgow Science Centre, saw the fireball as it passed over.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “It was incredible. I was sitting in my living room at exactly 10 o’clock last night and saw out of the window, due south, this brilliant fireball, this meteor streaking across the sky, and I could tell that it was something special because I could see through broken cloud.
“It wasn’t perfectly visible; I could see that it was fragmenting, breaking apart; there were little bits coming off it.
Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
“Normally, if you see a meteor or a shooting star, they are just tiny little streaks of light, they last for a fraction of a second. This one was streaking across the sky for at least 10 seconds – probably longer than that – and it travelled from due south all the way across to the west, so it was a pretty incredible sight.”
He said it is possible it could have landed but added it is “highly unlikely” to have done so in Scotland.”
READ NEXT-
The price you have to pay for energy bills by property type in Edinburgh
Edinburgh Waverley train station evacuated as passengers hear 'odd announcement'
Edinburgh Leisure to close all facilities on Monday for state funeral of the Queen
King Charles III never eats lunch and has a 'strict breakfast routine'
Netflix to end popular 'binge-watching' feature as it looks to retain subscribers
