It wasn’t a UFO or a Queen Elizabeth sign. On the evening of Wednesday, September 14, residents of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England were able to see, for about twenty seconds, what appeared to be, at first sight, a shooting star crossing the sky. According to BBCInformation related, this Friday, September 16, the UK Meteor NetworkA network of British scientists specializing in meteorology received about 800 reports of this.

The phenomenon lasted twenty seconds, and the object at the origin of the spectacle must have been larger than a simple shooting star, and it usually extinguished within a fraction of a second. An object the size of a golf ball or slightly larger. Many videos and pictures have been posted on social networks, and some Internet users are wondering – and worried – about this phenomenon. Theories and explanatory attempts proliferated.

Experts at the UK Meteor Network analyzed the data collected and the many reported sightings. They estimate that the object may have reached the sea. Perhaps he will never be found. “The preliminary trajectory calculated by the International Meteor Organization suggests that what we now believe to be space debris may have fallen into the Atlantic south of the Hebrides,” the team said on Twitter.

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The unidentified flying object is definitely a meteor

Astronomy enthusiasts initially thought the shooting star was space junk from a satellite from Starlink, the satellite-based Internet connection system launched by SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk. However, experts from the UK Meteor Network later confirmed that the observed phenomenon was a meteor that flew over the British Isles.

An “incredible” show

Whatever happens, this phenomenon has caused the joy of astronomy enthusiasts. Steve Owens, an astronomer and science communicator at Glasgow Science Centre, told the BBC he was able to witness the “incredible” sight. “At exactly 10:00 I was sitting in my living room and I saw this brilliant fireball – this meteor – cross the sky. […] It was a special thing. Through the broken cloud I could see it disintegrating—split into multiple tiny pieces.” And to explain, “Normally, if you see a meteor or a shooting star, it’s just a tiny trail of light. A second, but it cut the sky for at least 10 seconds.

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