BAA members around the country managed to combine to produce a fine set of images over four nights to capture the passing of Comet 2009 P1 Garradd over the Coathanger.
2011 September 1 - Maurice Gavin, Worcester Park
2011 September 2 - John Vetterlein, Rousay, Orkney
2011 September 2 - Maurice Gavin, Worcester Park
2011 September 3 - Martin Mobberley, GRAS remote telescope
2011 September 4 - Alan Tough - Elgin, Scotland
@britastro
Last night (Oct 1st) at around 8.15pm, I looked up into the nightsky in WA12 and saw an orange “fireball” on a course north of Warrington heading south easterly towards Macclesfield (roughly).
The ball was looked almost as large as the sun on a sunny day, when seen through the naked eye. It moved at a constant pace without a trail or deviation until it disappeared from sight after approx 2 mins. I spotted one small flame fall from the ball but no sparks or change of colour. If, at a guess the ball was approx 5km high at around the cloud line I have estimated that the ball would have been around 5km away when first seen (Winwick).
I have looked through various media centres and websites but there has not been any mention of this fireball. If anyone could please explain this “fireball” to me I would be extremely grateful.
Hello Brendan, I have not heard any reports of a fireball at this time, but I have forwarded your report to the BAA Meteor Section director who also coordinates fireball reports and may be able to advise on this.
I also saw this exact sight just above my home In Warrington and it looked exactly as you have described. I am very intrigued to know what this was!
Hannah