The "fireball" over the UK turned out to be a piece of space rock

On September 14, residents of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the northern part of England could observe a bright "fireball", videos of which flew around social networks. It is noted that the American Meteorite Society and the International Meteorite Organization have received more than 900 eyewitness accounts of the flight of a "fireball" in the sky over Britain. At the same time, some claim that the event was accompanied by a strong rumble.

It was not known for sure whether the appearance of this "fireball" was provoked by a meteoroid, a space rock of natural origin that entered the Earth's atmosphere and turned into a meteor, or whether it was a piece of space debris, especially since some early evidence pointed to the latter.

Experts' opinions on the origin of the "fireball" differ, but the analysis of its flight allowed experts to conclude that it was still a space rock that entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 51.5 thousand km/h.

It is noted that meteors, as a rule, enter the atmosphere at speeds from 121 to 129 thousand km / h, and space debris does this much slower – the speed of its entry into the atmosphere can be about 40 thousand km / h, depending on the trajectory.