Last night, while a historic space launch took place in Cornwall, a giant “multi-colored” meteor blazed across the sky above millions of Britons.
Stargazers in England were in awe of the stunning natural phenomenon that illuminated the night sky on Monday.
The flaming fireball was reportedly seen by some people as far north as Wolverhampton, close to Birmingham, as it flew across London, Sussex, Wilshire, Hampshire, Dorset, and Devon.
Early reports of the meteor, according to the Met Office, came in just after 8 o’clock. Incredible camera footage shows the shooting star erupting into a ball of flames as it burns up in the atmosphere.
As the magnificent shooting star burned up in the night sky, it was seen all over England. It was caught on camera by a security system in Wolverhampton as it flew over the city.
‘Reports of a meteor in the sky above the UK just now,’ the Met Office tweeted. We’d love to see any video you were able to capture.
Many people used video doorbells or house CCTV systems to record the unusual event, which they then posted on social media.
At roughly 8.01 p.m., a skywatcher in Bristol caught the meteor on a Nest CCTV camera as it was traveling east.
Stargazer Sophie Green was shocked by the meteor because it was so bright; she thought the world was about to end.
I observed it above South London’s Balham. Bright orange and low in the sky, at first I honestly believed it to be a firework and then I feared the end of the world. She tweeted, “Grateful to have seen it.
The huge meteor was first spotted shortly after 8pm on Monday evening, with people nationwide sharing clips from their doorbell cameras
The stunning natural phenomenon lit up the night sky across England with its huge fiery tail
The meteor can be seen flying through the sky in one video, passing over a plane before exploding into the atmosphere.
One Chippenham, Wiltshire, resident remarked, “I couldn’t believe it. The sky suddenly lit up as I waited outside for a lift to work.
It was amazing, “a brilliant orange ball sailed over the sky.”
It wasn’t simply a shooting star, it was orange in the sky, a different person said.
A Twitter user described what they saw as a “big white ball with a crimson border and a lengthy tail resembling a trail of shooting stars,” adding, “I couldn’t believe my eyes.” Beautiful.’
Another woman reported seeing an object flying across the sky after she had “just switched my computer off and looked up out of the window,” adding: “It was great timing.”
Sighting reports flooded in, among them from Wolverhampton, Hertfordshire, and all around London.
Around 8 o’clock in the evening, Laura, who wished to remain anonymous, from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, captured the flying object on camera from her front room.
Her video captured a light briefly gliding through the sky above a neighborhood for less than ten seconds before it vanished from sight.
She said, “I had just switched off my computer and looked up out of the window, it was ideal timing,” according to the PA news agency.
“It wasn’t a shooting star like I’ve seen before,” I said. It appeared to be really close.
It appeared enormous in the sky, was orange with an orange blaze behind it, and had a shorter orange tail than what I would have expected from a shooting star.
“Then it just vanished…” emerged from the sky. It appeared to have not actually occurred. They didn’t really believe my account when I tried to inform my husband!
Sightings were reported from London to Devon and up to Birmingham. Footage of the meteor showed it blazing through the atmosphere for several seconds before disappearing
The meteor was captured by the Sheffield weather camera on Monday night as it passed over the city.
The time of day and the clear skies, a Met Office spokeswoman told PA, helped to the quality of the observations.
A modified Virgin Boeing 747 that had a 21-meter LauncherOne rocket connected to its wing and was taking flight from Newquay Airport the same night as the amazing natural phenomena.
However, the Virgin Orbit mission to launch satellites into orbit was unsuccessful because a rocket “anomaly” prevented the rocket from ascending to the desired altitude.
The team behind the ambitious first UK launch declared they had reached space amid tumultuous scenes. But a short while later, they claimed that a “anomaly” had prevented the LauncherOne from traveling far enough into space.
On Monday night, it was anticipated that history would be made in the UK when the first-ever orbital space launch left Cornwall shortly after 10 o’clock.
The mission’s results were described as “disappointing” by British astronaut Tim Peake, who also noted that “getting to space is hard and vital lessons will be gained.”
History was made in the UK on Monday night when a repurposed 747 jumbo jet – named Cosmic Girl by Virgin (pictured) – took off from Newquay Airport in Cornwall
The rocket was successfully released from the jumbo jet at 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters) over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland at 11.10pm
But Virgin Orbit announced the rocket failed to reach its destination height on Monday night. Officials are pictured sharing the devastating news
“Getting to space is challenging, and vital lessons will be gained,” British astronaut Tim Peake said of the mission’s results.
According to Matt Archer of the UK Space Agency, the launch’s second stage experienced a “anomaly” whose root cause was being looked into.
At Spaceport Cornwall, he informed reporters, “In essence, the rocket has not reached the needed altitude to sustain its orbit or deploy the satellites and consequently the operation was unsuccessful.”
To ensure we comprehend what caused that technical breakdown, an inquiry including the Government and several entities, including Virgin Orbit, will take place over the next few days. We’ll then figure out what to do next.
At 10:02 p.m. on Monday, after all commercial flights had concluded, Virgin’s converted 747 jumbo jet, Cosmic Girl, departed from Newquay Airport.
People climbed onto one other’s shoulders to watch the jet launch as they cheered and danced to the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” as it took flight.
The mission, named after a Stones song from 1981, uses a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 that has been modified with a LauncherOne rocket from Virgin Orbit.
The Cosmic Girl 747, carrying the rocket beneath a wing, lifted off horizontally from the new facility.
As part of the Start Me Up mission and the first rocket launch from the UK, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket was launched from a converted Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 airplane, dubbed Cosmic Girl, at 35,000 feet across the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland.
Cosmic Girl, a converted Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747, lifts off from Spaceport Cornwall with a LauncherOne rocket for Virgin Orbit.
At 11.10 p.m., the rocket was successfully launched from the jumbo airplane over the Atlantic Ocean south of Ireland at a height of 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters).
Nine tiny satellites were being carried by the rocket; some were for firms including those involved in navigational technology, while others were for UK defense monitoring.
Virgin Orbit stated in a series of tweets that “we appear to have an abnormality” that has prevented us from entering orbit. The data is being evaluated.
We’re deleting our prior tweet about reaching orbit until we learn more. When we can, we’ll provide more information.
I won’t lie, it’s gut-wrenching, Spaceport Cornwall CEO Melissa Thorpe said. “We all heard at various times, so once we came together, there were tears, and it was extremely painful,” she added.
I’m completely devastated, she said.
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