Recent Fireball Sightings
Below is a list of some fireballs reported to the Section recently. This list is updated as fresh
sightings arrive, and mainly consists of those events seen away from the major meteor shower maxima
(when fireballs are more common), unless the objects were not part of the meteor shower in question,
or were particularly impressive. A "*" in the 'Magnitude and Notes' column indicates further
details are given below the table.
Initial details on the September 15-16 fireball are available at:
"Did I see a fireball?".
A best-estimate for the October 5-6, ~18:22 UT fireball suggests it may have passed high over central and eastern England, possibly on a roughly
NW to SE track. Sightings were reported from Cheshire, W Midlands, Essex, Somerset, Surrey and Kent. The event happened while the sky was still
twilight, so the magnitude may be an under-estimate.
The initial sighting of the October 17 daytime fireball can be found at:
"Daylight meteorite?"
on the UK Weather World's Space Weather Forum.
The original observations of the November 11-12 and 13-14 fireballs can be found respectively on the UK Weather World's Space Weather Forum, at:
"Taurid Meteor Shower";
and the SPA's Observing Forum at:
"Fireball, 2007 November 13-14, Hampshire".
The near-continent November 25-26 fireball probably moved generally south to north from a point high above the Belgium-Holland
border area north of Antwerp, passing over or near Rotterdam, ending around the Dutch coast further north. This probable trail
might have been seen from SE England or East Anglia too, though no reports were received from Britain. Grateful thanks go to
the observers, and Chris Steyaert of the Belgian VVS meteor group for forwarding details on the Dutch observation.
Sighting details for the November 28-29 and 29-30 minor fireballs are at
"Meteors?"
and
"What did I just see?"
respectively on the Observing Forum.
Notes on the December 6-7 fireball can be found at
"Bright green flash"
on the Observing Forum.
One report of the December 15-16 fireball can be found at
"Geminid Fire Ball 19:40ut"
on the Observing Forum, although from the details received, it seems unlikely this was a Geminid as initially suggested there.
The meteor may have flown on a generally south to north path over eastern England or the North Sea nearby.
Both first reports of the December 20-21 fireball can be found on the UK Weather World's Space Weather Forum among the Geminid notes beginning at:
"Geminids 2007"
(see especially pages 2 and 3).
Four of the reports on the 2008 January 9-10 fireball came from media sources only. The information available is insufficient currently
to allow even an estimate of where the object may have overflown, though it likely ended somewhere above northern England. Comments
and a web-link to one of the press notices can be found on the SPA's General Chat Forum, at:
"Object seen over Peterborough last night".
All three reports of the January 14-15 fireball can be found at:
"Bright meteor",
though it is not certain they were all of the same meteor. The
Sutherland and Yorkshire reports might indicate the object passed high above north Ireland.
Two sightings of the January 15-16 fireball can be found at:
"Huge Fireball over Gloucester"
on the Observing Forum, with a third at:
"Bright meteor"
from the Isle of Wight, where sonics were heard about a minute after the fireball passed almost overhead. A review of all the data
received so far suggests the meteor flew on a generally southwest to northeast trajectory from over the Channel north of the Cotentin
Peninsula of France (perhaps somewhere on a line from Cherbourg to Bournemouth), ending above western West Sussex or SE Hampshire.
The start is poorly-constrained at present, but the end may have been at ~50-60 km altitude. It almost certainly passed directly
over the Isle of Wight. Solving for the various possible solutions suggested an entry-angle of between ~15-25 degrees from the
horizontal, an atmospheric path length of ~85 to 135 km, and, from the average estimated full visible flight duration of ~4 seconds,
a range of mean atmospheric velocities (not allowing for deceleration) of ~20-35 km/sec, in the "slow" to "medium" meteor speed
categories. Half the witnesses reported the object broke apart into several fragments (somewhere between two to six main pieces),
while the majority favoured a green or blue colour for the main body. If any meteorites fell as a result of this event, projecting
on from the possible trajectories could imply landing zones in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk or the North Sea off East Anglia,
at maximum, or perhaps points adjacent but southwest of these places.
The Guernsey observation from January 16-17 can be found at
"Shooting star on a cloudy night !"
on the UK Weather World's Space Weather Forum.
Fireball reports, especially from the British Isles and nearby areas, are always welcomed. See the
Fireball Observing page on this
website for details of what to record on seeing a fireball, and where to report your data to.
Maintained by
Jeff Stevens. Last modified 2nd February 2008.