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A monumental fireball meteor shortly lit up the night sky above the U.K. on Sunday ( Feb. 28 ) and was seen by a potentially record - breaking number of mass .
The fireball flared across the sky at 9:54 p.m. local time over southwestern United States England for around six second . looker said the meteor emitted an unusually undimmed light that was seen across the U.K. and as far away as Ireland and the Netherlands . Some people in close proximity to the powerhouse also cover try a transonic gravy . Experts estimate the asteroid was traveling at around 30,000 mph ( 48,278 kilometer / total heat ) when it hit the atmosphere and started to sting up , according to astatement by the U.K. Fireball Alliance ( UKFall ) .
A fireball lit up the skies over southwest England on Sunday night (Feb. 28).
More than 800 multitude reported the meteor - sighting to the U.K. Meteor Observation connection — an amateur group of meteor watchers who give data to the International Meteor Organisation — and many also submitted videos charm by bell and security measures cameras . The sightings and footage might make it one of the most well - documented human dynamo meteoroid ever recorded onEarth , allot to UKFall .
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" I first thought it was a bright star or plane , then it got bigger & quicker , then a Brobdingnagian flash lit up the sky & it split into a massive tail of orange sparks trailing behind like a giant firework,“one witness wrote on Twitter .
The trajectory and predicted landing zone of the meteor was calculated by UKFall scientists using videos submitted by members of the public.
Due to its size and speed , the bolide may have left behind meteorites on the ground .
What is a fireball?
A bolide is another term for a very smart meteor , which has an apparent magnitude — the standardised measurement for the brightness of astronomical aim on a logarithmic scale — of minus 4 or below . Apparent magnitude is lower for brighter object ; for exemplar , a full moon has a magnitude of minus12.6 and the sun is minus 26.7 . Fireballs with a magnitude of minus 4 or below are brighter than Venus in the night sky , consort to the American Meteor Society ( AMS ) .
fireball bite bright thanks to the size and pep pill of the incoming target — most fireballs come from parent asteroids that are at least 3.3 foot ( 1 m ) across . As the asteroid hit our atmosphere , it slows down due to detrition and ignite up , releasing energy in the form of seeable light .
" Most of the meteoroid vaporized during the six seconds of visible flight , " Luke Daly , a UKFall scientist at the University of Glasgow , sound out in a argument . " However , with this one we think quite a few fragments believably reached the earth . "
Several thousand fireball meteors burn through Earth ’s atmosphere every day , according to the Master of Arts . However , most burn up over the oceans and other uninhabited areas , or they streak through the sky during the day when people ca n’t see them . Only around 10 to 50 will reach the ground every mean solar day , and most will only end up as very small meteorites .
" Most are barely the size of it of a sugar cube , " Sarah McMullan , a doctoral student at Imperial College London and part of UKFall , said in a statement . " However , two or three are full-grown , and that ’s believably the case with this one . "
Finding the fragments
Using the television submitted by extremity of the populace and their own camera connection , UKFall members calculated the flight of the fireball and predicted a potential impact zona north of Cheltenham for the asteroid fragments . So far , nobody in the area has report finding the meteorites .
From the meteor ’s trajectory through the atmosphere , UKFall scientists have trace the physical object ’s journeying through thesolar system .
" The videos also allowed us to reconstruct its original orbit around the sun , " Ashley King , a UKFall scientist at the Natural History Museum in London , said in the assertion . " This particular firearm of asteroid spent most of its orbit between Mars and Jupiter , though sometimes make closer to the sun than Earth is . "
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The James Henry Leigh Hunt is now on to amass the meteorite before they become contaminated by pelting or vulnerability to the aura . UKFall scientists have encourage people to not break COVID-19 lockdown protocols to go search for the blank rocks , but have given some advice on what to do if they are found .
" If you do discover a meteorite on the ground , ideally photograph it in place , note the location using your headphone GPS , do n’t touch it with a magnet , and , if you may , avert touching it with your hand , " Katherine Joy , a UKFall scientist at the University of Manchester , said in the statement .
Hopefully , unpolluted meteorites can be handed off to researchers , who can analyse their structure to aid unravel mysteries surrounding the formation of oursolar system .
earlier bring out on Live Science .
