LAST UPDATE | 29 Oct 2019
ASTRONOMY IRELAND HAS said it has received multiple reports of two fireballs that lit up the skies over Ireland last night.
The brightest of the fireballs was at about 6.54 pm last night with those who saw it saying it burned across the sky with a green hue.
Astronomy Ireland posted to its Facebook page about the sighting last night with people from all across the country responding to say that they saw it.
The rare sight was apparently visible across Ireland and in the UK.
Several people who saw the fireball described it as a ‘green ball of fire’.
One motorist in Banteer, Co. Cork tweeted a video of the fireball streaking across the night sky with the same green colour reported by others who saw it.
Sean Linehan’s dashcam recorded the fireball at 18:54:07 and the phenomenon lasted for about five seconds.
“Footage doesn’t do it justice, very cool. #greatballsoffire, ” Linehan tweeted.
In the UK, Paul Willows spotted the meteor as a distant light while driving in South Yorkshire and managed to record the moment on his dashcam as well.
“I’ve seen plenty of ordinary ‘shooting stars’ but nothing as impressive or as big as that one,” the 45-year-old told PA.
I’m a bit of a star gazer and spend a fair amount of time looking upwards but that was a first… I shouted out quite loudly!
Astronomy Ireland later said that another fireball was spotted at about 10.50 pm last night.
A fireball is caused by a piece of rock burning up high in earth’s atmosphere as it collides with our planet.
Essentially it is the same as a meteor (or shooting star) but because the object is larger it burns brighter and for longer.
Astronomy Ireland explains that shooting stars are typically the size of a grain of sand and burn for about a second.
A fireball by comparison is caused by a larger item, sometimes the size of a pea, that can burn brighter than the light from a full moon.
Did you spot the fireball? Let us know in the comments section below. If you were lucky enough to get a photo or footage of the event, you can email it to tips@thejournal.ie.
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