Fireball - 0613 UT 12th March 2014

[Kevin Boyle]

Comments I made to someone else on a fireball that I observed early on 12th March 2014 from Stoke-on-Trent, England:

"Early on 12th March (0613 UT) I observed a fireball. It was practically a daytime meteor as the sun was due to rise in 15 minutes. It occurred to the west, at least from my vantage point. There was no way I could estimate a magnitude as the deep twilight skewered my perception, and there was nothing, other than Venus, to compare with, and it was much brighter than that. I reckoned it would have been as bright as the Full Moon but I put a minimum value of -10 in magnitude on my report form for the reasons stated above. It didn't move particularly fast (straight down between 20 and 10 degrees above the horizon) and it was green. Some sparks came off it. It lasted 2-3 seconds without leaving a persistent trail."

Remarks made by Tony Markham of the Society of Popular Astronomy, from numerous observations that he received, strongly suggests that the fireball was somewhere over the Irish Sea between Ireland and North Wales. It is unfortunate that automated cameras that monitor for fireballs operate during the hours of darkness and are very unlikely to have still been operating this far into the morning twilight.