'Green fireball' streaks across sky (From Bucks Free Press)

'Green fireball' streaks across sky

4:54pm Monday 18th June 2012 in News By Lawrence Dunhill

‘A GREEN fireball’ streaked across the sky above Beaconsfield on Friday night, according to motorist Graham Lee.

The freelance photographer thinks he might have seen a meteor while driving home on the M40 and discovered several others had reported the sighting online.

Graham, from Whiteleaf near Princes Risborough, told the BFP: “I was on the M40 coming to the Beaconsfield junction at about 11.30pm and it came from left to right....

“It only lasted a few seconds and I thought it was a firework, but thought crickey that’s far too large and far too fast.

“It was as bright as the sun and looked like a green fireball. I felt quite privileged to have seen it.”

A website called The Latest Worldwide Meteor Reports lists several sightings of ‘fireballs’, ‘flashes’ and ‘green lights’ at about the same time, in various locations around Oxfordshire.

Ralph Campbell, Chairman of Aylesbury Astronomical Society, said Graham had probably seen a meteor, which is also known as a shooting star.

He said: “They are not very frequent but occasionally you do see them. It’s basically a lump of material from outer space coming into the earth’s atmosphere. Because it’s going so fast it heats up and melts away.

“Very occasionally they will reach the earth and make a big hole in the ground, but fortunately we’ve avoided any really big ones up till now.”