Did anyone else see a comet or asteroid last night (10th May) at around 9pm UK time? My daughter saw it first and called me, I looked through the binoculars and saw what looked like a rock with flames shooting from it and it had a red trail. It passed over us in Lancashire but disapeared behind clouds so we didn't see it for more than a couple of minutes.

According to the Society for Popular Astronomy there are no bright comets visible at the moment.

Perhaps it was a meteorite or fireball? Have a look here, because if it was one they will be really happy if you contact them

http://www.popastro.com/meteor/fireb...form/index.php

Thanks for your reply, it was just as I described, but over too quickly as we saw it just before it disappeared behind clouds, just surprised that there was no mention of it on any news bulletins Oh and for the record, three of us saw it and we were all sober

Oh, Lionda you just totally spoilt my post as I was about to ask how much you had been drinking.

Sounds like a great sighting, good for you.

Rosemary

Sounds like a meteorite, mind you, a lot of meteorites we see are the cores of dead comets.

Did you know that there is absolutely no record of anyone ever being killed by being hit by one?

I think a woman was bruised by one once, and a dog was killed in Egypt....

Comforting to know Bil but I am curious as to why there is nothing in the news about it .... surely we weren't the only ones to see it.

Just not newsworthy enough. - I have been seeing jokes in El Jueves about the Japanese reactor but nothing appears on the news, so maybe the wedding, Gaddafi et al squeeze everything else off!

Tell the meteor to come back in the silly season, as there will be plenty of column inches to fill!

Kidding aside, only astronomer geeks are really that interested.

.....and a fourteen year old kid in Germany two years back, apparently just grazed and burnt his hand on the way down.
According to another site a direct hit would be fatal.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009...5761244834794/

Common to see them at night, meteor showers occasionally too.
I saw some brilliant ones from the Canaries a few years ago.
Also saw an exceptionally bright one in daylight hours two years ago in Sweden, possibly similar to that described above.

Not heard about the German one. I'm willing to bet that a direct hit would be extremely fatal. Messy too.

I saw a home viseo once where soemone had recorded a meteor track that resembled a scratch across the sky. That one didn't burn up, but bounced off the atmosphere.

"Extremely fatal".... Ouch. I bet that would sting a bit!

So no-one else saw it then Very odd as it must have been close to see it so clearly. Did anyone else see it?

Think what the odds are of those two ven diagrams having anyone in common!

Draw two circles. One is the population reading these posts, draw another which is the people who saw the meteor.

The two might overlap slightly, but I really doubt it.

Should be Venn. Sorry about that.

Afraid no one seems to believe you, maybe you were daydreaming ?