The fireball was caught on dashcam footage. Image: @LinehanSean/Twitter
A lucky Cork driver has caught a stargazer’s dream on a dashcam while travelling down dark country roads.
A giant fireball has been spotted streaking across the sky over the UK and Ireland. The object, apparently a meteor, appeared in the skies at 6.54pm on Monday 28 October and was visible as far east as south Yorkshire, but was seen most clearly over Ireland.
Driver Sean Linehan captured the “bright fireball” on a dashcam fitted to his car outside Banteer, Cork, but said the footage “doesn’t do it justice”. Paddy Maher, from Laois, discovered he had captured the meteor on a security camera outside his house after reading about the sighting on Twitter.
“I checked back on my cam that I bought new only last week,” the 35-year-old plasterer told the PA news agency.
“I was delighted that I caught a glimpse of it – I might keep the camera on the sky in future!”
@CorkSafetyAlert @rtenews @Corks96FM Just caught this on my dashcam outside Banteer, Cork. Bright meteor/fireball flashing across the sky. Footage doesn't do it justice, very cool. #greatballsoffire pic.twitter.com/87ey9nvuhH
— Sean linehan (@LinehanSean) October 28, 2019
Paul Willows spotted the meteor as a distant light while driving in south Yorkshire and also managed to record the moment on his dashcam.
“It was a decent fireball that was visible for a few seconds beyond what I managed to capture,” the 45 year old from Conisbrough told PA.
“I’ve seen plenty of ordinary ‘shooting stars’ but nothing as impressive or as big as that one. I’m a bit of a stargazer and spend a fair amount of time looking upwards but that was a first… I shouted out quite loudly!”
@CarlowWeather I caught this on my wyze cam this evening at 6:54. #meteor pic.twitter.com/GdDfocbKc2
— paddy the plasterer (@Mucksavages) October 28, 2019
A meteor is a high-velocity body of matter from space which illuminates the sky due to friction with the atmosphere.
This is by no means the first fireball caught on a dashcam, with the Chelyabinsk meteor being one of the most famous to be filmed during its descent to Earth in 2013. As it travelled through Earth’s atmosphere, it heated to the point that it became brighter than the sun, burning the skin of people more than a dozen kilometres away.
– PA Media, with additional reporting by Colm Gorey
