Video footage shows the huge meteor as it entered the skies over northern England, with the stunning phenomenon caught on a security camera. The footage shows a huge flash of light as the meteor hit Earth’s atmosphere.
When a meteor burns with enough brightness, it is called a bolide.
Dozens of people flocked to the International Meteor Organisation (IMO) to report their sighting.
Stephen wrote: “I’ve seen meteors before but this one I was stunned by the colour, the length of the fireball and the length of time it was in the sky.”
Maxine added: “I have seen shooting stars before but not as big as this was.”
John said in an IMO report: “It just appeared in my eye line it was like the Russian meteor I saw a while ago but it only lasted seconds.”
Russia has experienced several known meteor explosions over the past century, specifically those which hit above Chelyabinsk and Tunguska.
Eight years ago, a 20-metre space rock hurtled towards Earth, making its way through the atmosphere before exploding above the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The asteroid explosion was so powerful that it caused damage to more than 7,000 buildings and injuring more than 1,400 people.
READ MORE: Meteor enters Earth’s atmosphere at a staggering 57,000 KM per hour
Most fireballs burn up in the atmosphere, and very few reach the surface. However, some do, and experts believe there is still a risk from major space rocks.
Jonti Horner, Professor of astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland, wrote in a piece for The Conversation: The Solar system is littered with material left over from the formation of the planets. Most of it is locked up in stable reservoirs – the Asteroid belt, the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud – far from Earth.
“Those reservoirs continually leak objects into interplanetary space, injecting fresh debris into orbits that cross those of the planets.
“The inner Solar system is awash with debris, ranging from tiny flecks of dust, to comets and asteroids many kilometres in diameter.
“The vast majority of the debris that collides with Earth is utterly harmless, but our planet still bears the scars of collisions with much larger bodies.”