Mysterious flying object identified by astronomy expert

The unidentified flying object seen over Kenilworth and the surrounding area has now been identified as a large meteor.

Residents and motorists spotted the unusual sight on Saturday evening (January 29) and many took to social media to see if anyone else had seen the same thing.

The object, which an eyewitness said flashed “really bright green” before disappearing, was visible above the Warwickshire town at around 6.30pm.

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Many guessed the object was likely an asteroid, but CoventryLive learned it was technically a large meteor – an offshoot of an asteroid and therefore generally smaller.

Professor Tom Marsh, from the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group at the University of Warwick, said: “It was a bright meteor seen in many parts of the UK which evaporated into the upper atmosphere, it therefore did not reach the ground as a meteorite.

“Meteors are associated with small solar system objects such as asteroids and comets. They travel at high speeds, around 30 kilometers per second in this case, causing them to heat up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

“They span a wide range of sizes, with larger ones like this being visible as ‘fireballs’ for several seconds during which they can travel 150 km or more.

“They are visible over a wide area because they light up when they are 50 to 100 km above the Earth’s surface.”

The meteor was filmed by Ty Leon-Fernandez who was driving at the time of the sighting, and captured the moment on his dashcam.

“It was amazing,” Ty told CoventryLive. “It was really bright green, at first it made me think of fireworks or something, but I knew it was way higher than that.

“It’s definitely not the kind of thing you see every day and the odds of catching it in the right place with your own eyes, let alone catching it on camera – I need to get a lottery ticket now !”

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