Blazing fireball opens annual Geminid meteor show

by Steven Mostyn - Dec 10 2010, 10:15

As something of a dazzling precursor to next week’s Geminid meteor shower, a blazing fireball has caused quite a stir with stargazers after it lit the skies above Great Britain.

Clearly seen by onlookers stretching from Somerset to Aberdeen on Wednesday evening, the chunk of hurtling space debris left an eerie green trail behind it whilst burning brightly for several seconds.

Estimated to be the size of a basketball, the flaming meteor is believed to have completely disintegrated as it passed through the planet’s atmosphere at around 5:35 p.m. GMT.

Wednesday’s event is likely to be the first of many such breathtaking sightings as the annual Geminid meteor shower looms large on the astronomy calendar.

For those keen on witnessing the galactic shower in all its glory (weather allowing), the Geminid show is expected to peak during Monday and Tuesday night of next week.

According to astronomy experts, this year’s shower is expected to produce somewhere in the vicinity of 60 sightings per hours during those two nights.

And, if that weren’t enough, this month will also offer up astronomers in Britain and the United States the opportunity to enjoy an impressive lunar eclipse on December 20 and December 21.

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