Meteor fireball spotted hurtling through skies over Lancashire

Danny Glover, from the Fylde, caught the phenomena on camera as it streaked through the sky at around 9pm last night.

The video, taken in Singleton, shows the fireball turning a luminous green colour as it hurtles to earth.

More than 800 sightings were reported, with the fireball thought to have been shooting through the sky over Scotland. But reports also came flooding in from across Northern England, including the Fylde coast.

"We saw it. Was walking the dog at Lytham Crem,” said Emma Dallas-Smith. “It was huge and stunning to watch!”

“I saw it quite some distance then went green as it headed towards the Prom,” reported Anita Mellor in Blackpool.

"Yes, I seen it last night,” added Scott Roberts in Bispham. “Was just going to van for charger. It was moving from South to North direction, bright green.”

What do the experts say?

The UK Meteor Network, which investigates sightings of fireballs across the UK, was flooded with reports overnight.

In the early hours of this morning, the group said it was “investigating to ascertain what the object was — a meteor or space debris”.

Initially, it believed the fireball was most likely a bolide meteor – an exceptionally bright meteor which explodes in the atmosphere.

It said “there was no space debris due to re-enter” the atmosphere, which made the group sceptical that it could be parts of a rocket or satellite falling to earth.

But after further investigation, experts at the UK Meteor Network changed their minds.

"Having studied many videos of last night's fireball over Ireland, Northern England and Scotland, we are of the opinion this was space debris,” it concluded.

Where did it land?

The UK Meteor Network said it believes the space debris crashed off the northwest coast of Scotland.

"The preliminary trajectory has been calculated by the IMO (International Meteor Organization) and indicates that the object, which we now believe to be space debris, would have landed in the Atlantic south of the Hebrides,” it said.

Just two weeks ago, another mysterious fireball was spotted over Preston.

Farida Bana and her children were mesmerised by the strange flaming object when they caught sight of it above Moor Park at 8.15pm on Tuesday, August 30.

The family watched it for some time as it made a ‘very slow’ descent towards earth. So slow that it almost appeared suspended in the sky.

When Farida used her phone to zoom in for a closer look, the object revealed itself as a v-shaped trail of fire.

You can see her pictures and read our full story here.