Stunned Scots watched on in disbelief last night as a 'meteor' changed colour and passed through the skies at speed.
Hundreds of residents reported the object shooting through the sky shortly after 9pm. Sightings throughout the country took place in West Lothian, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and even in Ireland.
Megan Barrie could not believe her eyes when she spotted it flying over the Isle of Arran. The 16-year-old has told how it 'hit the atmosphere' before changing colour.
She told the Record: "We saw it first hit the atmosphere and we weren't sure what it was, we thought it might have been a plane. When we realised it was a meteor, we were mesmerised and could not believe it.
"I'm always watching stars so I loved it, but my friend was freaking out a wee bit. It went from white, to green and blue.
"It was moving reasonably fast. I'm so glad I got to see it."
Megan's mum, Angie Barrie, 35, said her daughter was 'nearly in tears' when she came home last night.
She said: "When she got home she was ecstatic, she couldn't believe her eyes. She was nearly in tears and just couldn't believe what she had seen! It's a once in a lifetime experience."
James Riley had been walking his dog in Clydebank at 10pm last night when he saw a 'huge white ball' change colour as it flew through space.
He said: "Saw this huge white ball land over Clydebank at 10pm last night on my nightly dog walk. It turned red as it looked like it fell to earth. It was massive."
It is believed the rock could be larger than the size of at tennis ball and that it landed in the Atlantic, near the south of the Hebridean Isles. The UK Meteor Network and UK Fireball Alliance have received about 800 reports of the fireball and they believe it to be a piece of 'space debris'.
Dhara Patel, Space Expert at the National Space Centre, said: "There have been lots of images and videos shared across social media of a fireball over the UK last night. The object in question may have been the size of a golf ball, maybe slightly larger like a tennis ball or perhaps even larger than that.
"The UK Meteor Network and UK Fireball Alliance have received about 800 reports of the fireball and now believe that it was a piece of space debris that looks to have landed in the Atlantic, south of the Hebrides. Alternatively, it could be a piece of space junk such as a part of a satellite but further investigation will be needed to determine what it was.
"However, if it has landed in the ocean that will make it much harder to identify what has happened."
A spokesperson for UK Meteorite added: "There have been nearly 800 reports of the fireball that was seen over UK last night. The preliminary trajectory has been calculated by the IMO and indicates that the object, which we now believe to be space debris, would have landed in the Atlantic south of the Hebrides."
The Daily Record has approached NASA for comment.
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