‘Astonishing’ meteor spotted over UK skies as footage shows orange blaze ‘unlike anything’ ever seen

Stargazers were stunned by an apparent meteor travelling across UK skies on Monday evening.

The Met Office confirmed the meteor was reported at around 8pm last night (10 January) and asked for people to share footage of it.

The forecaster wrote in a tweet: “Reports of a meteor in the sky over the UK just now. If you managed to take any footage we’d love to see it”.

Several people took to social media to share footage of the rare event - many on video doorbells or home CCTV systems - with sightings coming from the likes of London, Hertfordshire and Wolverhampton, among others.

A Met Office spokesman said the time of day and clear skies contributed to the quality of the sightings.

‘It seemed like it hadn’t really happened’

One onlooker said the meteor “seemed overwhelmingly close” and had “an orange blaze behind it”, while another woman said she “had just turned my computer off and looked up out of the window” before spotting an object streaking across the sky. She said it was “perfect timing.”

Laura, who did not wish to give her surname, from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, caught the flying object on camera at around 8pm from her front room.

Her video showed a light streaking through the sky above a residential area for just under 10 seconds before disappearing from view.

She told the PA news agency: “I had just turned my computer off and looked up out of the window, it was perfect timing. It wasn’t like a shooting star I have seen in the past. It seemed overwhelmingly close.

“It was large in the sky, orange with an orange blaze behind it, not what I would describe as a long shooting star tail but a shorter orange one. Then it just disappeared… Popped out of the sky. It seemed like it hadn’t really happened. I tried to tell my husband but they didn’t quite believe my account!”

‘Astonishing’

One twitter user said: “I’ve just seen a stunning meteor burning across the sky 20.03 tonight 9th January South (Hertfordshire). It was so low down and clear and beautiful! Golden coloured.”

Another said they had seen the “most astonishing” meteor from Southampton. While another asked: “Did anyone else see a crazy meteor thing over Bath at about 8pm?”

Andras Sobester spotted it and said: “Just saw the most astonishing meteor/fireball of some sort shoot across the sky (Southampton, bearing of about 40deg, 20:01-ish). It had multiple discernible colours – blueish white core, bright red outline and streak – unlike anything I have ever seen.”