Did I just see a meteor explode?

[Ferox]

I just stepped out of my front door at 18:00 and saw a very bright object travelling very rapidly roughly east to west. It then exploded (more like a pop) , I heard a small detonation a fraction of a second after seeing the 'pop' so it wasn't far away.

I'm in the north west of Coventry, did anyone else see anything?

[redfox1971]

Yep saw it from bishops castle Shropshire really bright colors as it exploded.

[Ferox]

Fantastic, never thought I'd get to see one live!

[Ruud]

It could not have been a meteor exploding, I think, because it was so nearby. Being nearby it was also low in the atmosphere, and had it been a meteor it would have already been travelling for quite a while at its terminal speed, some 200 km/h. That's not a speed for a meteor to break up in an explosion.

It was probably fireworks. Sorry.

[Ferox]

It definitely wasn't a firework as it was a bright point light travelling in a straight line, with a downward trajectory, for a reasonable distance before popping. It also did not explode like a firework but more like something breaking apart.

[houston]

Just back from walking the dog in North coventry and spotted a few meteors. The geminids are getting close to their peak so gonna sit out for a bit. Hopefully it stays clear!

[Ruud]

It definitely wasn't a firework as it was a bright point light travelling in a straight line, with a downward trajectory, for a reasonable distance before popping. It also did not explode like a firework but more like something breaking apart.

 

Quadopter then? They can be bright at low altitudes.

 

When we see meteors they are high up, travelling at speeds of many kilometres per second, ionizing and exiting atoms in the air and getting really hot themselves. When they survive and reach the lower atmosphere their crust re-solidifies, their speed becomes terminal, there's no more ionisation or excitation of the atmosphere and they become quite inconspicuous. Unless one lands on your car or falls through your roof you would not notice much of them at all. 

 

They are just not bright at low altitudes.

 

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However, the sound you heard might have been from a different source, coincidental with a really bright meteor breaking up some 80 km higher.

 

[redfox1971]

No way a firework came down like a meteorite and broke up with a red color as it fizzled out,never heard any sound though.

[Ferox]

Yes it's quite possible the sound was unrelated and its apparent closeness was because it was so bright. That would also explain redfox1971 seeing it too.

[Cath]

It's often quite amazing how each individual can experience the apparently very same event in quite different ways.

It's that perception thing again

[Anthonyw85]

I saw this in the east from Sussex I believe .