Spectacular fireball over UK last night, September 14

Fireball over UK! 860 reports and counting

Vincent Perlerin of the American Meteor Society is reporting today (September 15, 2022) that there was a huge fireball seen by hundreds of people between Northern Ireland and Scotland last night. He wrote:

The AMS and its international partners IMO and UKMON received over 860 reports and many spectacular videos displaying a fireball event that occurred between Northern Ireland and Scotland on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, at 20:57 UTC. The initial computer generated trajectory of the AMS #2022-6109 event shows that this fireball entered the atmosphere North of Lock Ryan and its flight ended north of the Islay Island (known for its famous whisky).

Visit the AMS event page for this fireball to view the videos and read comments from the witnesses.

Did you see it? Report it here

Reports coming in of what appears to be a major fireball sighting from the UK tonight, Sept 14th/15th with observations from many people across N. Ireland too. Object moving S to N with tail, reports of sonic booms. To hear audio effects like that would signify quite a rare event

— Martin McKenna (Nightskyhunter) (@martinastro2005) September 14, 2022

83 fireball reports and counting. If you would like to file your report to us here please https://t.co/yDUzZLEDuE

— UK Meteor Network (@UKMeteorNetwork) September 14, 2022

Fireball reports from Twitter

Anyone else see a meteor burning up in the sky a few mins ago? Going south to north over the West coast of Scotland #meteor pic.twitter.com/7PEAM3AxoB

— Beanie (@Official_Beanie) September 14, 2022

have i just seen a meteor fly over Johnstone?? pic.twitter.com/lPK14hTzxl

— dn (@dannynellx) September 14, 2022

Anyone in #glasgow Just see this??? Was all different colours like a firework but silent? Maybe part of a meteor? pic.twitter.com/tqI48rrCKN

— James Shampoo Williams ??????? (@james_w_89) September 14, 2022

Can’t believe I seen this and managed to catch it on camera!! Going over Paisley at 10pm?? #glasgow #paisley #meteor #comet #fireball @UKMeteorNetwork @Daily_Record pic.twitter.com/mH9o2062nI

— Vanessa (@_vangal) September 14, 2022

What is a fireball?

Perlerin added:

A fireball is a meteor that is larger and brighter than normal. Most meteors are only the size of tiny pebbles. A meteor the size of a softball can produce light equivalent to the full moon for a short instant. The reason for this is the extreme velocity at which these objects strike the atmosphere. Even the slowest meteors are still traveling at 10 miles per SECOND (16.0934 kps), which is much faster than any round fired from a firearm.

Fireballs occur every day over all parts of the Earth. We normally receive about 100 reports each day. It is rare though for an individual to see more than one or two per lifetime as these short-lived events also occur during the day, on a cloudy night, or over a remote area where no one sees it. Observing during one of the major annual meteor showers can increase your chance of seeing another one of these bright meteors.

Bottom line: Spectacular fireball over the UK on the night of September 14, 2022. If you saw it, report it here.