Fireballs 2001
My impression of the 27th October fireball
On the evening of the 27th October this year at around 8.20 p.m. along with my family I was travelling along the M9 motorway heading from Stirling to Grangemouth giving us a good easterly view of the sky. The sky was clear so as usual I was pointing out some of the constellations to my family, when in the east at approximately 25 degrees above our horizon (bearing in mind we were on the motorway so too low to see the true horizon) a light started to move across the sky quickly increasing in brightness, similar to but quicker than an iridium flare. The light burst into an extremely bright green trail of light crossing the sky at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the horizon giving us the impression that it was falling from the sky, in comparison to most meteors its speed was relatively slow. Unfortunately we did not see how the fireball ended as this was obscured by relatively high horizon created by the motorway verge and some trees. There was also a great flash of light during the fireballs passage across the sky. This flash of light was confirmed by Malcolm who was looking north at the sky from his home in Laurieston near Falkirk. The fireball was reported in the Monday's edition of the Daily Mail, and also The Sky at Night asked witnesses to send in their reports, in which I duly complied.
My impression of the 8th February fireball
Earlier on this year on the evening of the 8th of February around 7.30p.m I had set up my telescope in my back garden and was taking a look at the planet Jupiter. When I looked up from the eyepiece there was this fireball crossing the sky parallel with the horizon travelling east through the constellation Canis Major. Again it was extremely bright green in colour and its speed was relatively slow before breaking up into many bright white pieces.