St Patrick's Day meteor lights up night sky above London
A huge fireball flying above London has been dubbed the 'St Patrick's Day meteor' after its bright colours dazzled the night sky in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The United Kingdom Meteor Observation Network (UKMON) said the meteor flashed by at about 3:16am and shortly after they were inundated with emails about sightings from the public.
One man captured amazing footage of the event from his dashcam as he was driving through the streets of Battersea in London.
Paul Gilbert posted the short video to his Twitter, which quickly went viral.
An electric blue light followed by a glowing tail lit up the sky above the rows of houses and shopfronts in the south London suburb.
The UKMON captured the same fireball from multiple cameras and posted a video of the view from their station at Church Crookham in Hampshire.
The event only lasted a few seconds but the network's co-founder Rickard Kacerek said the meteor was seen for "hundreds of miles".
"This is the biggest meteor sighting we have recorded," he told the BBC.
While the phenomenon usually occurs over remote parts of the earth, some people around the world have been lucky enough to capture the rare occasions on camera:
Incredible footage of meteor flying past earth
This footage shows the heart-stopping moment a meteor flies past the earth.
Meteor lights up Thailand sky
Dash cam footage shows a large fire ball streaking across the night sky in Thailand.
Newsbreak – March 18
