What was the ‘fireball’ seen over Scotland?
Reports are in the hundreds from residents across Scotland and Northern Ireland describing a huge ‘fireball’ streaking across the night sky. After hundreds of submitted videos and a network of 170 detection cameras dedicated to recording meteors and other celestial phenomena over Britain’s skies, the British Meteor Network confirmed that the object, which was visible in the sky for more than 20 seconds, was “definitely a meteor. “
What is the difference between a meteorite and space debris?
According to NASA, meteoroids (which become “meteorites” when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere) are space objects ranging in size from small asteroids to tiny grains, they can be thought of as “space rocks”. A shooting star is an example of a meteor that can be visibly seen entering our atmosphere. Examples of “space junk” include unused man-made objects such as satellites that float around Earth and occasionally enter our atmosphere. Space debris refers to man-made and non-functional objects or fragments floating in orbit or re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
How can you tell the difference between a meteorite and space junk?
Meteorites and space junk can burn in similar colors and intensities, as meteorites often contain many of the elements or alloys found in man-made objects, so a quick glance can’t confirm what’s what. However, the speed of the object can tell us a lot more. Most space debris that re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere travels at about 25-30 thousand kilometers per hour, while meteorites travel much faster, reaching speeds of 70 to 80 thousand kilometers per hour. The British Meteor Network confirmed on Twitter that the meteorite spotted on Wednesday “entered the orbit of an asteroid and entered the atmosphere at a speed of 14.2km/s”. This is equivalent to about 51 thousand kilometers per hour.
Where did the meteorite crash?
Steve Owens, a science communicator at the Glasgow Science Center and an astronomer, saw the fireball as it burst across the sky in Scotland on the evening of Wednesday, September 14. Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Good Morning Scotland’ he said it was possible he had landed in Scotland but it was “highly unlikely”. He said: “The UK Meteor Network, which has had hundreds of reports from across Scotland and further afield, will be able to triangulate all those reports to determine its trajectory. “It looked to me like it was heading… it was certainly heading west and given that people in Northern Ireland reported seeing it, it might well have gone overland and ended up in the Atlantic, but it’s certainly not impossible that it did land – the finding it will be the challenge.” The network said the end of the meteor’s trajectory was not caught on camera, but is expected to have ended up in the North Atlantic Ocean, about 50-100km west of the Isle of Islay.
Can meteors be dangerous?
Although meteorites often enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they rarely cause any harm or problems to humans. According to NASA, only every 2,000 years or so does a large meteorite—about the size of a football field—hit Earth and cause “significant damage” to the surrounding area. When software developer Stuart Padley asked the UK’s Meteor Network if the meteor sighted in Scotland would have created a crater on impact, and if so how big, the network replied: “Probably none. It was quite small.”
