Daylight Fireball 07:58 GMT on Dec 19

[Tony Markham]

There are many reports of a bright fireball seen just before 8am this morning.

The first reports received were from Jeff Powell in Norfolk and from Helen Critchell in Cambridgeshire. Both saw the fireball start in their western sky and move in a general easterly direction with a duration of 1-2 seconds.

The timing of the fireball meant that it was seen by many people travelling to work or walking their dogs.

There are numerous reports on Twitter with descriptions such as:

"wow just seen a meteor with long trail"
"7.58am Gu22. very bright meteor streaked across the light blue sky"
"just seen a meteor streak overhead"
"in broad daylight I just saw a meteor fall from the sky"
"Think I saw a comet at 8am over lanarkshire"
"WHOA Did anyone see that bright meteor in the north at about three minutes to eight"
"Just in the garden and something fantastic shot over the sky in Atherton, Mancs"
"Daylight #meteor to the north of Chelmsford at about 8am. Looking for 3 wise men now"

Although these short tweets give little positional information in the sky (which would have been difficult in daylight anyway), they do give an indication as to how much of the UK the fireball was seen over.
The list of locations mentioned was: Crayford (Kent), Byfleet, Chelmsford, Cambs/Essex, Guildford, Burton on Trent, Derbyshire, Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Shropshire, Telford, Manchester, Blackpool, Gloucestershire, Newport (South Wales), Llanferres (North Wales), Lanarkshire, East Lothian, West Lothian, Dublin bay.

Additional reports of this fireball would be very welcome.

[Tony Markham]

William Stewart has tweeted that one of the cameras of the NEMETODE network (www.nemetode.org) may have recorded this fireball at 07:58:09 GMT

[David Frydman]

. What about ordinary surveillance cameras of which there are perhaps hundreds of thousands in the UK. Street cameras and commercial or private dwellings et cetera.

Regards David

[Tony Markham]

A second image covering part of the fireball's path, secured by Alex Pratt in Leeds, has now come to light.

Together with William Stewart's image, the indication is now the that fireball may have started over the north midlands of England and travelled in a north easterly direction, probably ending over the North Sea.

Unfortunately it appears that most of the automated fireball monitoring cameras that are operated overnight had switched off before this fireball appeared.

[David Frydman]

. Was this actually a daylight fireball or did it occur before sunrise for most observers?
I think that daylight only applies if the sun is above the horizon.

I would think that before sunrise a magnitude -12 to -15 fireball would be very bright.

Regards David

[Tony Markham]

Although technically not a daylight fireball in that it would be a few minutes before sunrise from Norfolk and Kent and longer before sunrise for observers further north or further west, at the altitude of the fireball itself the Sun would probably have already risen.

[David Frydman]

. Dear Tony,

That is an interesting scenario.

Regards David

[Mr Suzuki]

Hi
I have just signed up on here so I can report my sighting
I live in Leicester and saw the fireball while out walking my dogs at 7.58am
It was only visible for a second or so,
it was more or less daylight with the moon near Jupiter which was only just visible in the brightening morning sky
the Fireball appeared high in the sky and rapidly brightened as it shot across the sky to the north east and seemed to explode, i would estimate the elevation at 70 degrees.
It was very spectacular - there were other people walking along the street but nobody else seemed to notice it, I guess I saw because I was looking up trying to pick out Jupiter in the morning sky.