A gleaming green fireball caught the sights of people across the United Kingdom as it streaked across the skies of Cornwall, London, Hertfordshire, Birmingham, Stockport, Southampton, Manchester, South Wales, and West Sussex. Science Times previously reported that this incident happened at 11:39 p.m. BST.
People were amazed to see this type of occurrence again after a similar event also happened in January when a blue-green fireball streaked across the skies of Scotland and England. Although slightly different in color, both meteors dazzled the public. What gives them their different colors?
Why Do Meteors Emit Different Colors? Green Fireball Streaks Across UK Skies
Green Fireball in United Kingdom Caught on Doorbell Camera
Sandi Cotton, a 57-year-old resident from Kidlington in Oxfordshire, England, told Oxford Mail that she was shocked when her doorbell camera captured a huge green meteor streaking through the sky via her doorbell camera.
A huge green meteor was captured by a doorbell camera in Oxfordshire early this morning.
Sandi Cotton kindly shared the footage with @TheOxfordMail and said “I knew it was something very abnormal”. #fireball #meteor #uk pic.twitter.com/4n8CmodymQ— Shosha Adie (@ShoshaAdie) May 13, 2022
She was scrolling through her phone when she received an unexpected motion notification of the brilliant flash of light streaking across the sky. Cotton was so excited about what she saw that she immediately emailed her sister about the meteor.
It was her first time to see such a phenomenal natural light show and she felt it was worth sharing. She insisted that it was the first time such an occurrence had happened because the doorbell camera had not captured anything exciting until the green fireball.
Authorities got hundreds of reports of the green fireball and the preliminary data from the UK Meteor Network suggests it landed in Bristol Channel.
ALSO READ: Serendipity: Photographer Captures Once-In-A-Lifetime Meteor By Accident
What Gives Meteors Various Colors When They Reach Earth
Fireballs are meteors that are brighter than normal and occur every day all over the world, even though they seem to be a rare spectacle due to their size, which could be as tiny as a sub-millimeter stone or ice, according to International Meteor Organization.
As meteors pass through the earth's atmosphere, their particles or grains start to burn up and give off a flash of light; that is why some people call them shooting stars. Some of them may appear to give off a white flash of light, while others come in a variety of colors when cap[tured in a photograph.
The colors of swift fireballs result from the ionization of high altitude molecules, while the UK Meteor Network founder Richard Kacerek said that the colors of slower fireballs indicate the chemical composition of the meteoroid.
AccuWeather meteorologist Dave Samuhel emphasized that the different chemicals in the meteors produce different colors while entering the atmosphere. Meteors that are primarily made up of calcium appear purple or violet, while those made in magnesium have a green or teal color.
Moreover, AccuWeather reports that the meteor's color does not solely rely on the meteor's chemical composition. The faster the meteor, the more intense its colors could be. Fast meteors frequently appear to have a blue color, while slower ones are red or orange.
For instance, the Geminid Meteor Shower produces intensely colored meteors, which usually have yellow, orange, and green meteors. On the other hand, the Perseid Meteor Shower is known for producing stars that give off vivid colors.
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