Meteor burns brightly across night sky in Scotland

Astonished Scots have captured a meteor streaking and burning brightly across the night sky.

The orange light and accompanying bang was spotted at about 00:50 by people on the Isle of Lewis, Stirling, Glasgow and in Argyll and Bute.

Gillian-Isabella McLaughlin, who was walking her dog in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, when the whole sky was lit up, said it was "the most thrilling sight" she had ever witnessed.

Meteors are so named when matter enters Earth's atmosphere and often make a spectacular appearance as they burns and create streaking lights through the sky.

Andy McNeill, who saw the event in Appin, Argyll and Bute, said: "There was a bright flash over the house which also caused the wi-fi to reset, and then maybe 20 to 30 seconds later an explosive bang.

"There was also contrail in the sky, striking broadly east to west."

Rachel Sutherland, from Inverness, said: "I saw a bright flash but wasn't sure what it was."

Another observer at Glen Lyon in Perthshire said they saw a flash in the sky at around 00:50 followed a few minutes later by a rumble in the air.

Gemma Henderson, who saw the event from her living room in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, said: "I thought it must have been a lightning bolt.

"I have the lightning tracker app on my phone, so checked that and found that there had been no lightning present.

"Then there was a loud noise, so thought the tracker must have been incorrect. It was extremely bright."

Merseyside lorry driver Ringolds Abolins spotted it while driving up to Glasgow on the M74.

He said: "It burned out in two to four seconds. It was so quick and was small green line behind.

"I thought in first moment it was a kind of rocket or missile."

Ray Whyte was staying in a static caravan while working in Glen Nevis in the Highlands when he was startled by the meteorite.

He said: "I couldn't sleep after a hard day so got up for a coffee.

"Me and dog jumped out our skin with the bang.

"I missed the light as the curtains were drawn, but the whole static shook like it had been used as a drum or a vehicle had hit the side.

"Left us both pretty scared and confused."

William Sinclair, of Kilwinning in Ayrshire, said he was woken by two large bangs and feared someone was breaking into his house.

Other people have reported seeing a "bright flash" through their house window in Inverness, while others caught sight of the meteor from Jura.

HM Coastguard told BBC Scotland News it had received several reports related to the meteor overnight, including an alert to unidentified lights at the Tay Road Bridge at about 01:02.

A spokesperson said: "Broughty Ferry lifeboat was called to investigate alongside Dundee Coastguard Rescue Team and with nothing untoward found, the search was stood down.

"The sighting was believed to have been related to a meteorite shower reported across parts of the UK."

Astronomer Cyrielle Opitom said the meteor can be called a fireball due to how bright it was.

She told BBC Scotland News: "It's a piece of rock that has entered the earth's atmosphere, and that is something that happens fairly regularly.

"They can be very small asteroids or pieces of comets. We don't know exactly what one it is yet."

She said while meteors aren't rare, seeing them inland during the night while the skies are clear is much less common.

"I don't think seeing something that clear over Scotland will happen again for quite a few years," she added.

She said not much is known about this particular meteor, including its size, but work will be carried out to establish if it landed or disintegrated in the atmosphere.

What did people see?

US space agency Nasa has a handy guide.

Meteoroids are rocks still in space, and vary in size from grains of dust to small asteroids.

Meteors are meteoroids that enter Earth's atmosphere.

They enter at high speed and burn up. The fireballs are nicknamed shooting stars.

And meteorites are meteoroids that survive their journey through the atmosphere and hits the ground.

Nasa said an estimated 48.5 tons of meteoritic material falls on Earth each day - almost all of it burns up in the atmosphere.