A 'blazing ball of fire' was seen falling through the sky in County Longford last Wednesday evening. The unusual sight was caused by a collision between a meteor and the earth's atmosphere and now the hunt is on by Longfordians to find a piece of this giant meteorite, which is valued at an astounding $500 (€360) per gramme.
"I was driving out the Longford to Strokestown Road to Tarmonbarry at around 6pm when I saw this bright light in the sky on the right hand side of the road," one reader told the Leader. "I pulled in and I couldn't believe what I was seeing – it was a
giant ball of fire falling towards the ground. It was quite low down and it was blazing as bright as a welder's flame. I didn't know what it was at first - I thought I was seeing things. Then I realised it must have been a shooting star or a meteorite. It really was an amazing thing to see."
A few other lucky Longfordians who saw the meteor told Leader Facebook about their experiences. Helen Flanagan commented: "I saw it at 5.55pm. It was a huge bright ball and had a red/orange tail, and there was sparks coming from it. When I saw it, it was heading towards the army barracks direction. I was in Annaly Park at the time."
Will McKeown had a similar experience. "I saw it at around 5.55pm falling from the sky towards the army barracks. It was a green light with a trail behind it. I actually thought it was a flare."
Gary Nolan spotted the meteorite from Killoe. "I seen it about 5.55pm evening in Killoe. It was a huge fireball heading for Cornhill and then it disappeared behind it."
Most meteors disintegrate when entering the Earth's atmosphere. However, an estimated 500 meteorites, ranging in size from small pebbles to footballs or larger, do reach the surface each year. However only around five of these are typically recovered and made known to scientists.
Few meteorites are large enough to create large impact craters instead they usually create a small pit – but if you're on the hunt to find a piece of this meteorite David Moore from Astronomy Ireland advises: "It's a very distinctive dark stone with a smooth surface from being melted by the heat of the fireball and from the wind pressure while it was travelling."
Anyone in Longford who spotted the meteorite is asked to log onto www.astronomy.ie and report where they saw it and other details on their online form.
David explained: "We're getting hundreds of reports on sightings so it's going to take a while to sift through them all but once we do we will e-mail back everyone who reported it to us or those who are on our friends mailing list and then the entire country can start searching the triangulated point at the same time as us."
