Breathtaking footage shows huge fireball as asteroid burns up over English Channel
13 February 2023, 08:24 | Updated: 13 February 2023, 10:42
An asteroid spectacularly lit up the night sky overnight as lucky sky gazers captured it burning up in video footage.
The asteroid – Sar 2667 – was seen over the Channel in England and over France.
It is thought it beached the atmosphere somewhere over northern France at about 3am.
"Wow! Incredible lightshow with audible bang!" one user on Twitter wrote.
Ahead of the impact, the International Meteor Organization said: "A freshly discovered asteroid, Sar2667 is to enter the Earth atmosphere on February 13, ~02h 59min UT over the Channel.
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Asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere over English Channel
@MarkBoslough Phone video of airburst over the channel just now #Sar2667 pic.twitter.com/y95PQhAtt1
— Phil Edwards (@l2kphil) February 13, 2023
Asteroid streaks through the sky over English Channel
"Its small dimensions (around 1 m) means it will be the source of a bright fireball, and potential meteorites fall."
Dozens of reports of fireballs were submitted to the group.
It added: "According to Peter Birtwhistle and Sam Deen, the asteroid should enter the atmosphere over the Channel with a East_West direction and a 40-50° inclination relative to vertical. Entry area is around 4 km from French coast, 45 km North-East of Le Havre, according to Bill J. Gray.
"A nice fireball should thus be observable from Northern France, Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands."