'Meteors' sighted in skies 

across UK

Did anyone spot this unusual sight in the night sky?

People from across the UK have reported seeing bright objects in the night sky, thought to be meteors or "space junk".

Dr Tim O'Brien, associate director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, told the BBC it was difficult to know the cause of the phenomenon.

"It's hard to say exactly, whether it was a chunk of rock coming in from outer space, burning up in the atmosphere, or a bit of space debris we call it, space junk, which is basically man-made stuff from a spacecraft that's burning up in the atmosphere.

"[The object was] probably 80 miles up or so, high up, moving very fast, actually, 18,000 miles an hour, probably, at least."

Colin Johnston, from Armagh Planetarium in Northern Ireland, said the lights were unlikely to be part of a meteor shower.

"There are actually several small, faint, meteor showers scheduled across September but they're so unspectacular, not many people actually bother looking for them.

"I think that actually this spectacle tonight might not be associated with that."

"I think it's something just by chance has happened to come in tonight, some piece of actual space junk floating around the universe for billions of years has just picked tonight to fall in across our skies, or a satellite that's been up for some years has decided to burn up," he said.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19683687 23/09/12