Fireball NW England 16.04.08

Having just taken the dogs out for their evening constitutional , I witnessed a small fireball travelling east south east towards manchester from Liverpool . Google earth coordinates where I was stood are
53 23'16.00 N and 2 55'00.50
It was about 0130am UK timeand I would say it was an elevation of about 15 degrees from where I was stood and it completely burned out ( so no worries manchester I think ) . Red streak of fire in the sky which ended with a broken tail before burning out . Quite a pretty and pretty amazing sight .We've watched the leonnids and antonid(?) meteor showers before but the one I just saw was better than any during them .

Just thought I'd post in case anyone else saw it coz I get a bit excited about these things

hi mrbenn,

cool avatar and name,

has there been anything in the local press ???

snoopyuk

not a thing, i can't believe i was the only one who saw it though because it caught my eye rather than me looking at the sky randomly . Or my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it lasted for a couple of seconds - enough time for me to focus on it .

Just a hunch but perhaps its just a pair of robbing scousers taking a ufo for a joyride? I'm sure the plod will find a burnt-out saucer in a Morrisson's carpark in the morning



[edit on 16-4-2008 by citizen smith]

hmm still on the stereotypes then . which crime free city do you come from?

reply to post by mrbenn


Manchester...hence why I couldn't resist reacting with the liverpudlian stereotype, no offence intended

[edit on 17-4-2008 by citizen smith]

once i've stopped laughing none will be taken lol

I was completely amazed when the fireball I saw wasn't reported, at least on the local commercial radio which always has people phoning in.

I was driving down a hill in fairly busy traffic, and we had a wide view, somewhat above the horizon. There were three others in the car at the time.

The fireball was a perfect white sphere with white fire surrounding it and a short white fire tail. In terms of distance it was difficult to judge, but I would say some10 or so km away. In terms of size it was about the size of your thumbnail when held out in front of you at arms length towards the sky. It moved slowly - unlike a meteor - and didn't leave any kind of trail.
There was only one. It was large and very bright.


After a few seconds of silence I said to the others "Did you see that!"

Everyone in the car saw it, but there was no mention on the radio. I looked around me at the people in the other cars. They didn't appear to have seen it, or perhaps they had, and for some reason didn't think it was a big deal.

I've been watching the sky all my life. I've seen (and heard the explosion) of space junk into multicolored pieces as it re-enters the atmosphere, numerous large (half-sky) meteorites, and other events. This was none of those.