Home News Latest News Meteor blazes a trail on the Northside

Meteor blazes a trail on the Northside

Thursday, 16 September 2010

A NUMBER of lucky Northsiders were treated to the rare and spectacular sight of a meteor blazing through the night sky recently. One resident who lives on Kilmore Road, was among the 600 or so people from around the country who spotted the “dazzling light” from the meteor which blazed through the sky on August 31 at approximately 9.20pm. The meteor is likely to be worth its weight in gold and has prompted a nationwide search from those hoping to get rich quick. “It passed by in a flash, it was absolutely magic,” said the delighted local who did not wish to be named. “You couldn’t miss it if you happened to be looking up at the sky when it passed. “It was like a big ball of fire that was pure white and had a little tail behind it.” Lucky The stunned man, who counts himself lucky to have been treated to such a sight, happened to be looking out an upstairs window of his house when he spotted the meteor that was about 30 metres in length. David Moore of Astronomy Ireland, which has its headquarters on Kilmore Road, told Northside People they had received over 600 reported sightings of the meteor from around the country. “People who saw it said it was brighter than a full-moon,” he stated. “We are really quite excited about this meteor because it most certainly landed on land somewhere near the border of Tipperary, Galway and Clare. “We’ve been able to calculate the region down to 1,000 square miles of where it most likely landed. “However, we are appealing to people in those counties to come forward with their sightings to help us calculate the area more specifically.” Rare According to David, it is quite rare for individuals who are not interested in astrology to see a meteor. “Understandably, not many people, unless they are those interested in astronomy, would have any reason to be looking up at the sky at 9.20pm,” he explained. “From the descriptions in relation to the brightness of the meteor, it would have been big enough to survive re-entry. “We estimate that it was probably the size of a grapefruit or a football. “If it had been the size of a table it would have lit up the night sky so much that people who weren’t even looking at the sky would have felt the brightness of it. “We have no idea in relation to what it is a fragment of until someone finds it and we can get it into a laboratory.” It was the second meteor sighting this year, which is extremely rare for Ireland. The last meteor that blazed across the sky in February is believed to have landed in the Atlantic. A meteorite was last found in Ireland in 1999 when a Carlow woman discovered a handful of shattered meteorite pieces on a country lane near Leighlin Bridge. The collector who bought the fragments for £3,000 sold them for £500 per gram.