Huge meteor with a ‘flame trail’ lights up night sky over UK

A giant ‘multicolored’ meteor streaked the skies over millions of Britons last night – coinciding with a historic space launch in Cornwall.

Stargazers across England were stunned by the stunning natural phenomenon that lit up the night sky on Monday.

The blazing fireball has been sighted over London, Sussex, Wilshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Devon – some are said to have even seen it as far north as Wolverhampton, near Birmingham.

The meteor was first seen just after 8 p.m., the Met Office said. Stunning video footage shows the shooting star erupting into a ball of flame as it burns up in the atmosphere.

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The stunning shooting star was spotted across England as it burned in the night sky. This surveillance camera in Wolverhampton captured the moment as it soared over the city

The Met Office tweeted: “Reports of a meteor in the sky over the UK right now. If you managed to get some footage, we’d love to see it.

People took to social media to post footage they’d captured of the rare event – many of it on video doorbells or home CCTV systems.

A sky observer in Bristol captured the meteor with a Nest surveillance camera around 8:01 p.m. – as it flew east.

The meteor was so bright it startled stargazer Sophie Green – who feared “the world is ending”.

‘I saw it over Balham, south London. Bright orange, so quiet, honestly, at first I thought it was fireworks, then I thought “the end of the world”. I’m grateful to have seen it,” she tweeted.

The giant meteor was first sighted just after 8 p.m. Monday night, as people across the country shared clips from their doorbell cameras

The breathtaking natural phenomenon lit up the night sky over England with its huge fiery tail

Video shows the meteor streaking through the sky and flying over a plane as it burns up in the atmosphere.

A woman from Chippenham, Wilts, said: “I couldn’t believe it. I was standing outside waiting for an elevator to go when the sky lit up.

‘A bright orange ball flew through the sky – it was amazing.’

Another person said, “It wasn’t just a shooting star, it was orange in the sky!!”

One Twitter user said she saw a “huge white ball, a red border, a long trail of shooting star-like tails,” adding that she “couldn’t believe my eyes.” Nice.’

Elsewhere, a woman said she “just turned off my computer and looked out the window” before spotting an object streaking across the sky, adding, “It was perfect timing.”

Sightings came in from all over London, Hertfordshire and Wolverhampton, among other.

Laura, who declined to give her last name, from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, captured the flying object on camera from her living room at around 8pm.

Their video showed a light streaking through the sky over a residential area for just under 10 seconds before disappearing from view.

She told the PA news agency: “I had just turned off my computer and looked out the window, it was perfect timing.

“It wasn’t like a shooting star that I’ve seen in the past. It seemed overwhelmingly close.

“It was big in the sky, orange with an orange fire behind it, not what I would call a long tail of a shooting star, but a shorter orange one.

“Then it just disappeared… emerged from the sky. It seemed like it didn’t really happen. I tried to tell my husband but they didn’t quite believe what I said!’

Sightings have been reported from London to Devon and as far north as Birmingham. Footage of the meteor showed it darting through the atmosphere for several seconds before disappearing

The meteor was recorded by the Sheffield weather camera as it passed over the city on Monday evening

A Met Office spokesman told PA the time of day and clear skies contributed to the quality of the sightings.

The spectacular natural phenomenon happened the same night a modified Virgin Boeing 747 took off from Newquay Airport with a 21-metre LauncherOne rocket attached to its wing.

But the Virgin Orbit mission to deploy satellites in space failed after an “anomaly” prevented the rocket from reaching its target altitude.

In chaotic scenes, the team behind the ambitious first UK launch announced that it had managed to reach orbit. But a moment later, they said an “anomaly” actually prevented the LauncherOne from going far enough into space.

It was thought history would be made in the UK on Monday night when the first-ever orbital space launch lifted off from Cornwall just after 10pm.

British astronaut Tim Peake called the mission’s outcome “disappointing” and said: “Going to space is difficult and valuable lessons are being learned.”

History was made in the UK on Monday night when a repurposed 747 jumbo jet – dubbed Virgin’s Cosmic Girl (pictured) – took off from Newquay Airport in Cornwall

The rocket was successfully released from the jumbo jet at 11:10 p.m. at 35,000 feet (about 10,000 meters) above the Atlantic Ocean south of Ireland

But Virgin Orbit announced the rocket had failed to reach its target altitude as of Monday night. Officials share the devastating news

British astronaut Tim Peake called the mission’s outcome “disappointing” and said: “Going to space is difficult and valuable lessons are being learned.”

Matt Archer of the UK Space Agency said the second phase of the launch suffered an “anomaly” the cause of which is being investigated.

“The rocket actually did not reach the required altitude to maintain its orbit or deploy the satellites and therefore the mission was unsuccessful,” he told reporters at Spaceport Cornwall.

“There will be an investigation involving the Government and various bodies including Virgin Orbit in the coming days to ensure we understand what caused this technical error and we will again work out what comes next after that is to do.

A converted 747 jumbo jet – named Cosmic Girl by Virgin – took off from Newquay Airport at 10.02pm on Monday after all commercial flights were grounded.

Spectators cheered and danced to the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up as the jet took off, and people climbed on one another’s shoulders to watch the takeoff.

The mission, named in honor of the Stones’ 1981 hit, includes a repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 and Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket.

Dubbed Cosmic Girl, the 747 took off horizontally from the new facility while carrying the missile under one wing.

A video from Virgin Orbit’s live feed of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket after being launched from a converted Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft dubbed the Cosmic Girl at 35,000ft over the Atlantic Ocean in southern Ireland the Launch Me Up mission and the UK’s first rocket launch

A repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 named Cosmic Girl carrying Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket takes off from Spaceport Cornwall

The rocket was successfully deployed from the jumbo jet at 11:10 p.m. over the Atlantic Ocean south of Ireland at 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters).

The rocket carried nine small satellites intended for British defense surveillance, while others were intended for companies involved in navigation technology, for example.

In a series of tweets, Virgin Orbit said: “We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We evaluate the information.

“Once we learn more, we will remove our previous tweet about reaching orbit. We will share more information when we can.’

Spaceport Cornwall manager Melissa Thorpe told reporters: “I’m not going to lie, it’s annoying – we all heard it at different times so there were tears when we all got together and it was very annoying.”

She said: “I’m absolutely devastated.”