In fact it was neither. The blazing ball hanging above a residential street in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, is thought to be a ‘sun dog’. The phenomenon occurs when sunlight is refracted by hexagonal-shaped ice crystals in high and cirrus clouds - and is quite common, experts say.'At first I thought it was a plane but it was going so fast I thought it must be something else,' he said.” I realised it must be a meteorite, which makes sense because there was a red trail followed by a tapering orange light behind it. I grabbed my camera phone and took two pictures as quick as I could before it disappeared behind a cloud. I don't subscribe to the UFO theory, so I am fairly sure it was a meteor. I would be interested to hear if anybody else saw it in the sky. It was only in my field of vision for around three or four seconds before it went behind a cloud. I tried to see where it would reappear but it was nowhere to be seen. I'd really like to know if anyone else saw it as it was a pretty sizeable meteorite.'
He traced it through the sky before the flaming matter vanished behind a cloud.
However an expert from the Royal Astronomical Society poured water on this theory.
Dr Robert Massey said the rainbow colours on the ball are a classic giveaway of sun dogs, or ‘mock suns’.
‘It may have looked like it was moving but in fact it was the clouds moving over it,’ he said, adding that meteors, caused by comet debris, are usually seen at night. These arise from the refraction of sunlight by hexagonal shaped ice crystals in high and cirrus clouds and disperse colours in the way shown in his image. If it was moving that's a different matter but otherwise the rainbow appearance is a classic giveaway. And even if it isn't a meteor the photographer should feel happy about capturing such a nice image.' (Daily Mail)
