‘Spectacular’ fireball meteor filmed streaking through British skies

Rare display was picked up on security cameras across UK

A dazzling meteor streaked across British skies last night to the delight of the lucky few who glimpsed it.

The meteor, which was visible for around seven seconds, was spotted at 9:55pm and later identified as a fireball by amateur astronomy group UK Meteor Network.

A fireball is a particularly bright meteor, a lump of rock which glows as it fragments inouter space. To qualify for fireball classification, a meteor must be brighter than Venus as it hurtles through the sky.

Spotting one is a rare occurrence: the UK Meteor Network typically receives around six reports of fireballs above the UK each year. They said that they received more than 120 reports of last night’s dazzling display.

The spectactular fireball was picked up on doorbell and security cameras in Manchester, Bath, Cardiff, Midsomer Norton, Honiton and Milton Keynes.

Twitter users shared videos of the meteor and expressed their delight at having seen it. One personwrote: “Installed new security cam this afternoon and then it captures a shooting star!”

Anotherwrote: “The meteor display was quite spectacular this evening,” and another added: “I’m still buzzing that I actually saw it!”

Some were started by the fireball. One person wrote: “I just saw like... the brightest shooting star/meteor? Looked like a firework but was coming down from the sky?! Freaked me out.”

Others joked that it was a sign of alien life or a response to Nasa’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars last week.