Witness were left in shock recently when a mysterious ‘fireball’ was spotted blazing through the sky.
One such witness, social media account CountyDownCycling, managed to capture footage of the ‘meteor’ zipping overhead.
The incident took place just before 17:50 over Ballynahinch village in County Galway, Ireland on February 20.
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People in Connacht, one of the four provinces of Ireland, caught sight of the ‘fireball’ in the sky and initially believed it was meteor coming down to Earth.
But, as is typical in this day and age, they turned to X for more answer on where it had come from.
Someone near Rockchapel village in North County Cork (Munster province), suggested it looked like a shooting star that then “exploded”.
Others, though, said the thing spotted in the sky was green, which happens a lot with space rubbish, as metals like nickel, copper, and boron get really hot and glow green.
Whilst everyone was guessing what the ‘fireball’ was, they eventually came to the conclusion that it must’ve been a chunk of space debris.
#Fireball / #meteor spotted over County Down this evening 20 February at 1748. Anyone else spot it? This footage was taken heading south at temple roundabout on the A24 towards Ballynahinch. @BBCnireland @bbcniweather @ArmaghPlanet pic.twitter.com/QGnO5BdvHc
— CountyDownCycling (@CyclingDown) February 20, 2024
Many believe it may have been an old satellite from the European Space Agency (ESA) that had come back into orbit.
Back in 1995, a satellite called ERS-2 was sent up to check out the ozone layer, see how warm the sea surface is, and watch the winds over the ocean.
This information helps us understand climate change better.
However, in 2011, ERS-2 was ‘retired’, and its orbit shrunk from around 785 km (488 mi) to 573 km (356 mi) so it wouldn’t bump into working satellites.
According to the Space Debris Office of the ESA, who are keeping a close eye on the situation, the satellite was expected to drop back down to Earth some time in mid-February.
If that’s the case, the ‘fireball’ could likely be the old satellite, which was expected to splash down in the South Pacific Ocean, although it’s not known if and when it came down.
In other space-related news, the Webb telescope has made an unexpected discovery while searching the outskirts of the solar system.
