The 2012 UK meteoroid was an object that
entered the atmosphere above the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
on Friday, 21 September 2012, around 11pm. Many news agencies across the UK reported this event.
Overview
Several theories were made as to the origin of the sightings - from it being a
meteoroid to a
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
. Initially, the most prominent theory was that it was an old
artificial satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisoto ...
(i.e. a large piece of
space junk) re-entering the atmosphere. However, later analysis showed that it was highly unlikely to be space junk; it travelled too fast, towards the slow end of the range of possible meteor speeds and, in addition, it traversed the sky from east to west while almost all satellites orbit from west to east or north and south.
According to Finnish mathematician Esko Lyytinen, the meteor was captured by Earth's gravity and entered the atmosphere once again above USA and Canada 155 minutes later.
If confirmed, this would classify it as an
Earth-grazing meteor.
See also
*
List of meteor air bursts
A meteor air burst is a type of air burst in which a meteor explodes after entering a planetary body's atmosphere. This fate leads them to be called fireballs or bolides, with the brightest air bursts known as superbolides. Such meteoroids were ...
*
Potentially hazardous object
A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They ar ...
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Near-Earth object
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...
*
Impact event
An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or me ...
*
Cyrillids
References
12. Phil Williams (January 2015) "The Meteoric Earth-Grazing Fireball of September 2012" Liverpool Astronomical Society Monthly Newsletter (January 2015, pp. 5–9)
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Meteoroid
Meteoroids
Modern Earth impact events
Meteoroid
UK Meteoroid
21st-century astronomical events
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