Help identifying this object [Bolide / Meterorite]

[Mark Dobson]

A couple of people on facebook suggested I upload this photo here for identification.. looking NNW from Holy Island (UK) at around 23:59 BST.

 

[Mick West]

Very interesting. How long did it look like that? Could you see it move? What direction?

It looks most like photos of a meteorite fireball or bolide, with the very bright glow at the bottom. Here's a similar image:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081011.html

Explanation: On September 30, a spectacular bolide or fireball meteor surprised a group of amateur astronomers enjoying dark night skies over the Oklahoma panhandle's Black Mesa State Park in the Midwestern US. Flashing past familiar constellations Taurus (top) and Orion, the extremely bright meteor was captured by a hillside camera overlooking the 2008 Okie-Tex Star Party. Astronomy enthusiast Howard Edin reports that he was looking in the opposite direction at the time, but saw the whole observing field light up and at first thought someone had turned on their car headlights. So far the sighting of a such a bright bolide meteor, produced as a space rock is vaporized hurtling through Earth's atmosphere, really is a matter of luck. But that could change. Earlier this week the discovery and follow-up tracking of tiny asteroid 2008 TC3 allowed astronomers to predict the time and location of its impact with the atmosphere. While no ground-based sightings of the fireball seem to have been reported, this first ever impact prediction was confirmed by at least some detections of an air burst and bright flash on October 7th over northern Sudan.

Content from External Source

And another linked from that article:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080628.html

 

[Mick West]

It does not look like a contrail because:

• It's too bright. Even though there's a faint glow from the set sun, if you can see the stars then a contrail would not be illuminated by the sun, and certainly not bright white - it would be orange.
• It's too straight. Given the position near the horizon it would be 100-200 miles away at contrail altitude, and could not have remained that straight for that long.

 

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Mick, it was about 25 seconds into a 30 second exposure, a green streak caught my eye and I looked up the colour had gone but caught the breifest glimpse of the trail by the time my focus had shifted.. probably visable about a second or two max travelling North(ish) Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place

 

[Mick West]

Hi Mick, it was about 25 seconds into a 30 second exposure, a green streak caught my eye and I looked up the colour had gone but caught the breifest glimpse of the trail by the time my focus had shifted.. probably visable about a second or two max travelling North(ish) Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place

No worries. Sound like it was almost certainly a bolide.

 

[pseacraft]

Nice capture. When day did you collect it? Love to see more stars in the shot but then your fighting the moon. I read someplace that certain days in September held the possibility of meteors from some lessor known events and this is probably one of them or maybe some space junk coming home.

 

[Mark Dobson]

Sorry, this was captured on 21/09/2013 @ 23:59 BST. I was batteling the moon, but had just taken delivery of a new lense so was eager to get out any try it

 

[Pete Tar]

Are you preparing for comet Ison? Please share if/when you do shoot it.

 

[pseacraft]

Oh new lense, do tell - do tell! I am considering another lense myself for wide field as my Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8L II USM at 16mm is awesome in the daylight but is not performing as well as I want on my night shots.

And it seems this past weekend was a good one for meteors: http://www.amsmeteors.org/2013/09/meteor-activity-outlook-for-september-21-27-2013/

 

[JRBids]

Is that light at the bottom left light pollution from a town?

 

[cloudspotter]

Is that light at the bottom left light pollution from a town?

Could be Berwick-Upon-Tweed