Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Huge Fireball Reported Over Ireland

We’re seeing reports popping up on the internet of a huge fireball spotted over Ireland at around 6pm local time on Feb. 3, 2010. There was a video posted to You Tube which claimed to be footage of the event, but it now seems that was old footage, so we have removed the embedded video. (We’ll post any new verified images or videos when they become available.) Any Irish readers out there see anything? The Irish Times said members of the public throughout the country have been reporting sightings of the fireball. The Times quoted Tommy David Moore from Astronomy Ireland: “A major explosion happened in the sky over Ireland. We think it’s a fireball, that’s a rock from space the earth has slammed into and they burn up as huge shooting stars. This one appears to have lit up the whole country. The phones here in Astronomy Ireland are going crazy.”

On Facebook NightSky.ie reported : “It was seen blazing in the air by people all over the country and would have been traveling with the force of a small nuclear weapon. It is likely it has landed inland, but it is unlikely to have injured anyone. Although traveling at high speed when it was spotted, it would have slowed as it hit the atmosphere.”

Stay tuned!

10 Replies to “Huge Fireball Reported Over Ireland”

  1. Hope it dint hit the O’Leary’s cow, again? It looks like a fairly slow speed event? (42 second video) Re-entering space junk? Incoming aliens? (Hopefully they don’t look like cows!)

    With all the reports.. should be a ‘slam-dunk’ locating where it landed?

  3. In the comments of that year old posting was teh following comment:

    “looks like? a close-up and reverse of the flares the military uses to light up areas at night”

    This seems to make sense because if you look closely in this video the smoke appears to move towards the bright flare. It also looks like fa rocket exhaust and if you play it backwards in your head the it fits a rocket or flare being launchd. It’s very bright in the beginning and as it travels away from the observer it dims (and the smoke moves away from the bright flare).

  5. Yes, ignore the video as so far no footage has been handed in.

    I’m open to correction on this but not too sure if the Irish Times quote is correct with using Tommy Moore from Astronomy Ireland (the chairman is called David Moore). He did a small stint on a local radio show this morning — Thusrday 4 Feb., on the RTE Gerry Ryan show — about the reported fireball.

    By all accounts reported (hundreds of sightings), the likely region in which the meteorite fell (if, indeed, it did survive at all — no confirmation of a find yet) was probably in the north of the country e.g. Donegal, Derry etc. The above show is usually archived several hours to a day later, so if your listeneers want to tune in then you willl hear the David Moore give some more information.

    Hope that helps — from Ireland

    John,
    (Moon Atlas, Poster, Globes, News, Missions — see moonposter.ie)

  6. I would have seen it if I hadn’t been in the pub, I know that’s just so cliché.

    The sighting reports here indicate it was traveling from south west / south to north / north east with a possible terrestrial fall centered in the Cavan area.
    The fall area could be as large as the entire north of the country as it broke up into several pieces.

    I haven’t heard anyone mention sounds in the reports only colours, orange center with a blue halo, seems to be the main colours reported.

    Astronomy Ireland will probably triangulate the possible fall site within the next few days.

    Hopefully someone will find something.

  7. What, no security camera videos? cell phone videos? still images? WERE all the Irish in pubs? or what? LOL!

    Then again, if your weather has been anything like ours (75 miles North of San Francisco), you’d be lucky to have seen anything thru all the clouds!

  8. The sky was clear across most of the country yesterday so someone must have got a image.

    There seems to be a bit of a gold rush on at the moment to find a piece, so maybe instead of spending time uploading a video there out searching. 🙂

  9. Aqua
    There’s a single video capturing the first plane hitting the World Trade Centre on September 11. What’s your “LOL” guess as to where all the New Yorkers were ?

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