Shooting stars
Discussion
Well, meteorites.
As we were travelling to Sheffield on Monday night, (5 miles East of Sheffield, travelling west on M18), I saw a large flare with not really any tail, which faded, reappeared, then faded again. Yes, crap description, anyhow, I dismissed it as some firework....
Randomly looking at some news pages yesterday, I read that what I saw was actually a shooting star. I have seen these before, which from memory are more a fast line which are gone in a blink of an eye, whereas this one was very bright, more like a flame, and wasn’t travelling very fast. The news article said this was seen most clearly in Northern Ireland, and could be seen as far as South Yorkshire.
My science question is, where did this come through the atmosphere? To me, it traveled from left to right (northerly), Was about in the middle of the windscreen, and not steeply angled downward. It appeared to be travelling to destroy Sheffield, or Rotherham, which may have been better.
I am guessing it was very high, and very far away from me, despite it appearing to be landing a few miles in front. Why did it look huge and slow, was it actually close to appear that way? Another question, are these tracked on radar, or just reported to news sites by visual sightings? Is there any chance of it actually having survived burn up and hit the ground?
Ta
As we were travelling to Sheffield on Monday night, (5 miles East of Sheffield, travelling west on M18), I saw a large flare with not really any tail, which faded, reappeared, then faded again. Yes, crap description, anyhow, I dismissed it as some firework....
Randomly looking at some news pages yesterday, I read that what I saw was actually a shooting star. I have seen these before, which from memory are more a fast line which are gone in a blink of an eye, whereas this one was very bright, more like a flame, and wasn’t travelling very fast. The news article said this was seen most clearly in Northern Ireland, and could be seen as far as South Yorkshire.
My science question is, where did this come through the atmosphere? To me, it traveled from left to right (northerly), Was about in the middle of the windscreen, and not steeply angled downward. It appeared to be travelling to destroy Sheffield, or Rotherham, which may have been better.
I am guessing it was very high, and very far away from me, despite it appearing to be landing a few miles in front. Why did it look huge and slow, was it actually close to appear that way? Another question, are these tracked on radar, or just reported to news sites by visual sightings? Is there any chance of it actually having survived burn up and hit the ground?
Ta
Flares in the sky can be caused by a number of things - including actual flares 
For many years there was a class of satellite known as an Iridium which could, as they orbited the earth, catch the sun with their solar panels and to an observer on the ground, appear like a bright flare in the sky. In recent years these older Iridium satellites have been replaced by a new generation which have smaller solar panels and are much less likely to flare like the old ones.
It could have been a piece of space debris entering the atmosphere and burning up - such as a dead satellite, an old rocket section or a piece of an old satellite or rocket..
It could have been a meteor (they are only referred to as meteorites after they have fallen to the ground and are found as pieces of stone or metal).
Most meteors are tiny (grain of sand size) and are completely vapourised when they burn up. Anything larger than a football has a chance of surviving to the ground. The speed they enter the atmosphere can vary a lot - usually from around 20,000 mph to over 100,000 mph - depending on whether they hit the earth head on or whether they "catch up" with the earth from behind. Each meteor was a particle which has been in its own orbit around the sun, often for hundreds of millions of years, before it ploughed into the atmosphere. The angle and direction the meteor hits the earth will be determined by this orbit.
For many years there was a class of satellite known as an Iridium which could, as they orbited the earth, catch the sun with their solar panels and to an observer on the ground, appear like a bright flare in the sky. In recent years these older Iridium satellites have been replaced by a new generation which have smaller solar panels and are much less likely to flare like the old ones.
It could have been a piece of space debris entering the atmosphere and burning up - such as a dead satellite, an old rocket section or a piece of an old satellite or rocket..
It could have been a meteor (they are only referred to as meteorites after they have fallen to the ground and are found as pieces of stone or metal).
Most meteors are tiny (grain of sand size) and are completely vapourised when they burn up. Anything larger than a football has a chance of surviving to the ground. The speed they enter the atmosphere can vary a lot - usually from around 20,000 mph to over 100,000 mph - depending on whether they hit the earth head on or whether they "catch up" with the earth from behind. Each meteor was a particle which has been in its own orbit around the sun, often for hundreds of millions of years, before it ploughed into the atmosphere. The angle and direction the meteor hits the earth will be determined by this orbit.
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