Fireball spotted in the skies over Ireland and the UK

A giant fireball has been spotted streaking across the sky over Ireland and the UK.

The object, apparently a meteor, appeared in the skies at 6.54pm on Monday and was visible as far east as South Yorkshire in England, 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”.

Lisa Donegan posted dashcam footage which she recorded as she drove through Fermoy.

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!”

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 star gazer and spend a fair amount of time looking upwards but that was a first… I shouted out quite loudly!”

A meteor is a high-velocity body of matter from space which illuminates the sky due to friction with the atmosphere.