CLANFIELD Observatory became the centre of the universe last week after its cameras captured the passing of a massive fireball.
The last week has been a thrilling one for the Hampshire Astronomical Group (HAG) as their images of the ‘St Patrick’s Day Meteor’ have dazzled stargazers around the world. The brilliant flash, caused when the meteor entered the atmosphere above the south coast early last Thursday, is thought to be the biggest ever recorded by UK experts.
The event was recorded by several observatories but some of the best images were captured by motion sensor cameras at the Clanfield base.
The footage of the meteor, which entered the atmosphere around 115km above Bournemouth at 3.16am, has thrilled Graham Bryant, press officer for HAG.
He said: “Meteors are captured on camera all the time but something this bright is pretty rare so that’s why it’s created such a fuss.
“This is also the first time we’ve seen anything like this in our observatory.”
Meteors are usually bits of cometary debris or pieces of rogue rock that orbit the sun.
Last Thursday’s piece that passeda cross East Hampshire towns such as Pertersfield, only weighed a few kilogrammes, while the one that struck central Russia in 2012 was considerably larger.