Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
A bright meteor illuminated the night sky over Scotland, leaving startled residents in awe. The event, witnessed by people in various locations including the Isle of Lewis, Stirling, Glasgow, and Argyll and Bute, was characterized by a burst of orange light accompanied by a loud bang. Gillian-Isabella McLaughlin, who happened to be walking her dog in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, during the spectacle, described it as the most thrilling sight she had ever witnessed. Meteors, which are created when matter enters Earth’s atmosphere, often produce mesmerizing streaks of light as they burn through the sky.
Witnesses, like Andy McNeill in Appin, Argyll and Bute, reported hearing a bright flash over their house followed by a wi-fi reset and an explosive bang seconds later. Rachel Sutherland from Inverness admitted to seeing a bright flash but was unsure of its origin. Another observer in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, mentioned seeing a flash in the sky around 00:50, followed by a rumble a few minutes later. Gemma Henderson in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, initially mistook the sighting for a lightning bolt but was proven wrong after checking a lightning tracker app on her phone. Merseyside lorry driver Ringolds Abolins, who witnessed the event while driving to Glasgow, described it as a quick burnout lasting two to four seconds, with a small green line trailing behind.
The phenomenon left many residents, like Ray Whyte in Glen Nevis and William Sinclair in Kilwinning, startled and confused. Reports of the meteor sighting poured in from various locations, with some witnessing a bright flash in Inverness, while others spotted it from Jura. HM Coastguard confirmed receiving multiple reports related to the meteor overnight, including an alert about unidentified lights at the Tay Road Bridge around 01:02. Astronomer Cyrielle Opitom explained that the bright meteor could be referred to as a fireball due to its intense glow. She emphasized that while meteors aren’t rare, witnessing such a clear event over Scotland, especially inland at night under clear skies, is a rarity.
Opitom highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the meteor’s origins, including its size, and mentioned efforts to determine if it disintegrated in the atmosphere or landed. She asserted that such a clear sighting over Scotland is unlikely to recur for several years. The US space agency NASA provides a guide distinguishing between meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites. Meteoroids are rocks in space, meteors are those that enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, while meteorites survive the journey and hit the ground. NASA estimates that nearly 48.5 tons of meteoritic material falls on Earth daily, with most burning up in the atmosphere
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.