Meteor Caught on Camera in Scotland Creates Spectacular Flash, Loud Bang

A meteor streaked over Scotland Monday and was caught on camera as it lit up the skies, alarming residents who described it as a “fireball.” The event took place around 6:45 p.m. local time, illuminating the skies over the cities of Aberdeen and Inverness, reports The Independent. An influx of calls came into the local police station with many people reporting the spectacular flash and the loud rumble that accompanied it, Sky News reports. According to a spokeswoman for Police Scotland, one caller said they heard a loud bang and others said their homes shook. “We have checked and been told it was likely a meteor shower,” the spokeswoman added. Several people reportedly saw it burn up in the atmosphere right above Perthshire. “What you’ve seen is a piece of rock from outer space that has crashed into the earth,” St. Andrews University professor Keith Horne told BBC.com. “When it hits the atmosphere, it starts to burn up … It releases all this energy into the atmosphere, which will cause a bright flash and sometimes bits of this explode.” Horne believes that the meteor was probably about 3 inches wide, with the rumbling sound coming from a sonic boom, and that the flash was caused by its speed of about 18 miles per second. He added that it probably burnt up while at an altitude of 20 miles, with no remaining pieces of it reaching the Earth.

Garry J. Hunter described the flash to BBC.com as “a huge fireball-like trail across the sky, which seemed to then explode and light up the whole sky.”


Source: Weather Channel
Mon 7 Mar 2016 at 08:55