Residents of Shropshire, UK, were left baffled after noticing a bright light streaking through the clouds.
Landscape astro-photographer Nick Jackson appeared to be in the right place at the right time when a meteor exploded in the night sky as it impacted Earth’s atmosphere over Shropshire in England.
Jackson managed to take some pictures of the rare phenomenon after spotting a mysterious light in the sky.
“I immediately thought, ‘I hope that was caught in the frame’. It was a sheer stroke of luck that I just happened to be shooting the series of images when it happened. With things like that, you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time.”
The spectacular images were taken at Clun Castle, Shropshire, during an annual Orionid meteor shower on October 20 – this occurs every autumn when our planet is passing through the stream of debris left by Halley’s Comet.
“It’s very unusual to see a meteor that big. Because I was shooting the star trail, I couldn’t check the footage immediately. There are very few images out there that have captured this before. I posted it on Facebook on some astronomy groups and it just blew up over the weekend,” he said.
Jackson continued: “People were saying, ‘You’re a lucky guy, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing’. The reason we photographers go out in the middle of the night and stand there in the freezing cold is because we’re obsessed with the beauty of the night sky, its peace and calm. And when you see something like that, it’s just awe-inspiring.”
A series of 30 images made into a video clearly showed the meteor fly into the middle of the frame and disintegrate, dispersing its debris in the sky.
“To the naked eye, it’s over in a flash. You just see a streak of light and a bright ping and then it’s gone. However, the camera captures all the detail of the aftermath.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
