A 'fireball' was spotted crossing the skies over Ireland and the UK last night

     image:UKMeteorNetwork

There have been around 800 reports of a "meteor" crossing the skies over Ireland and the UK.

People took to social media last night to report sightings of fireballs from various locations in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.

The UK Meteor Network started receiving reports of sightings of a fireball at around 9pm, tweeting that it had received more than 200 reports last night.

793 reports from sightings of the object have been submitted to the International Meteor Organization. The sightings started around 9 pm and continued till 10 pm.

One of the best videos of the fireball seen tonight. We are investigating to ascertain what the object was. meteor or space debris. https://t.co/Ko1lKRoPut

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

Astronomy Ireland's David Moore claimed in an interview with The Journal that the organisation had been "flooded with information" concerning the fireball.

He stated, "It's one of the greatest fireballs I can remember in at least a year or two."

It's very unusual because, according to weather forecast maps, the majority of Ireland and Britain were cloudy. However, reports have come in from London, all the way across to Killarney, all the way up to County Donegal, and a tonne of people in Scotland, including those on the north coast of Scotland.

"So that fundamentally redefines these islands. It was visible to anyone on both islands who had a clear sky, and it was practically exactly at 10 o'clock. A few seconds before 10:00 p.m. 

According to Moore, it is more probable than a meteor to be a piece of man-made space debris—space equipment like a satellite that has been abandoned because it is no longer functional.

As for how long it was visible, he added, "I've seen some accounts going up to 40 seconds, but most seem to be around that 15-second range. That indicates it either just happened to come in almost parallel to the ground, which is extremely rare, or it was a piece of man-made space junk."

"That is travelling in a roughly circular orbit around the Earth, slowly entering the atmosphere before burning up over a very long journey. We don't know for sure yet, but the burning up of a piece of a man-made spaceship is the most likely cause.

According to Moore, the fireball's fragments, which can be seen in some of the footage posted on social media, increase the likelihood that it is space debris that is disintegrating as it re-enters the atmosphere.

"It most definitely matches that explanation. Therefore, it was probably burning up man-made space trash. Still as amazing as a chunk of natural rock in outer space. Simply put, they have a far longer lifespan.

It is not rare for space debris to fall back to Earth, and with the expansion of the space industry, it is likely to happen more frequently.

A significant piece of debris that fell on a farm in New South Wales last month was identified by the Australian Space Agency as coming from a SpaceX-built spaceship.

People getting impacted by space debris is frequently reported. Lottie Williams was struck by a chunk of a Delta II missile near Tulsa in 1997.

However, a research that was released in July estimated that during the next ten years there is a 10% probability that debris will hit one or more people.

According to Moore, it seems likely that the fireball ended up in the water because its track appeared to travel from off the north coast of Ireland toward the west coast of Scotland.

"Based on the stories, I have a tendency to believe that it entered the water after leaving the land. The problem is that we can see these things from as far away as 1,000 miles away, and Ireland, particularly in its north and south, has ocean in that direction as well as a respectable sea to the east, he added.

"The majority of the fireballs that we receive reports of end up falling in the water, but a small number do so on land. They are hardly ever discovered. 1999 marked the last time one was really discovered on Irish soil.

Moore predicted that the following meteor shower will emerge in Irish skies on October 21. Halley's Comet debris is what causes the Orionid meteor shower.

We can anticipate it, but we most likely won't experience a meteor shower with a size quite like this one. They frequently encounter much tiny items.