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    BULLETIN

    Apr 22, 2021 6 minutes

    Daylight fireball shoots over UK

    The meteor on 20 March was the second large fireball seen in British skies within a month, though the two sightings are unrelated

    A bright meteor, known as a fireball, streaked through the skies over the west of the UK on 20 March. The meteor was first reported just before 15:00 UT, when people in France, England, Wales and Jersey heard a ‘sonic boom’. Some also saw a bright flash. The Ministry of Defence discounted an RAF aircraft, leading people to wonder if this could have been a rare event – a meteor bright enough to be seen during the day and which could have dropped meteorites.

    Internet sleuths and meteor watchers alike quickly set about tracking down corroborating evidence, including regular contributor Will Gater. “I went through each area of satellite imagery for the South West, scrolling back and forth through the data around the time of the sonic boom reports,” says Gater. “In the data at 14:50 UT, there was this

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