Meteor spotted lighting up night sky across eastern England

A meteor has been spotted lighting up the sky across eastern England.

Video footage and sightings of the event on Monday were shared from a number of places including East Anglia, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.

Experts say that although the fireball was bright, the meteor "was not big."

They added that they don't expect to find any recoverable pieces of the meteorite, as data suggests the event occurred over the North Sea.

According to Charlotte Bays, from the UK Fireball Alliance, the meteor had been spotted across northern Europe at about 00:24 on Monday morning.

She said that the meteor was spotted widely because it was "very bright", due to the materials that it was made up of.

However Ms Bays explained that finding any material from it was unlikely.

"Based on the fireball trajectory, the event occurred over the North Sea so, sadly, we do not expect any recoverable meteorites," she said.

John Maclean, from the UK Meteor Network, added that their data suggested that although the fireball was bright, the meteor "was not big" and probably weighing about 12 grams.

It's thought that the meteor would most likely have burnt up completely on entering the Earth's atmosphere at about 20,000mph.

It's also believed that the meteor was not connected to any astronomical event, and likely came from a larger asteroid.

However, don't worry if you missed it, as keen stargazers could be in for another treat later this week.

The Lyrids meteor shower will be visible in the night sky from Thursday.

Known for its fast and bright meteors, experts say there could be up to 18 shooting stars per hour.

The amazing sight happens every year, and in 2026 it will be active from 16 to 25 April, peaking on Wednesday 22 April.

Sometimes asteroids can bump into each other in space, and this can mean small pieces break off.

These smaller pieces of rock are called meteoroids.

Meteoroids can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a metre across.

If a meteoroid gets close enough to the Earth that it enters our atmosphere, it begins to burn up and fall to the ground.

This burning trail is known as a meteor.

They are usually bright in colour and leave beautiful trails of light in the sky.

Some people call them shooting stars, but they are aren't really stars, just tiny chunks of rock burning up in the Earth's atmosphere!

If a meteoroid rock doesn't completely burn up as it falls to Earth - the rock that is left behind is called a meteorite.