Several readers contacted us last night after they spotted a large fireball, thought to have been a meteor, in the sky.
People reported seeing a fireball shoot across Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Knutsford at about 9.50pm on Saturday, 3rd March. Twitter users across Scotland and the north of England also reported the sighting of a “bright light” and an “orange glow” in the sky.
Catherine Booth, of Alderley Edge, said "My husband and I saw it - for several seconds. It broke up then burnt out. We thought it was a meteor but it was very, very bright."
Tom Constantine tweeted "Did anyone just see a shooting star / ball of fire over Knutsford!" and Tim Johnson tweeted "I have just seen a shooting star at Wilmslow Golf Club".
Kieder Observatory commented "I have never seen anything like it: when it appeared it was like a diamond, so bright we almost had to look away, and it cast shadows on the ground as it moved. We stood in amazement as the colours changed from green and bright white to yellow and then, as it disappeared over the Southern horizon, a deep orange. Usually, meteors appear for a few seconds and travel so quickly, breaking up, so that we hardly have time to take them in - this one took a minute to cross the sky.
"The fireball was truly wonderful, the highlight of my 30 years of astronomy."
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