A fireball seen by thousands of people across Ireland last week probably landed somewhere in Co Donegal, Astronomy Ireland said today.
However, Professor Mark Bailey, astrophysicist and director of the Armagh Observatory, rejected the claim, arguing that it is “highly unlikely” any fragments from the fireball fell to land.
An estimated 100,000 people saw the fireball, according to Astronomy Ireland chairman David Moore, who said the sightings would help pinpoint where the meteorite might be found.
He stressed further reports would help refine the exact location of the landing and urged members of the public, especially those living in the northwest, to continue to submit reports via the Astronomy Ireland website.
The activity, which was described variously as a flare or a bright green or white light, was reported last Wednesday evening.
"We suspect only one in a hundred people who saw the fireball have actually reported it," he said. "This was probably seen by thousands of people…if they contact us and tell us where they saw it, we will be able to triangulate their positions and find it within a couple of days.”
He said it experts had been able to estimate the location where a meteorite that fell in Co Carlow in 1999 to within 30 kilometres.
The meteorite could have been the size of a football or a house, but it was hard to estimate at such an early stage, he said. He said the earth rotates around the sun at a speed of about 110,000 km/h, meaning the collision between it and a space rock would be very intense. “It would be travelling 100 times faster than a bullet.”
Mr Moore said it was “a rough rule of thumb that where a fireball is reported to be brighter than the moon, it is likely a meteorite dropped”. Of the 1,000 reports received by Astronomy Ireland, nearly all the sightings said the fireball was brighter than the moon, he said.
However, Prof Bailey said it was "highly unlikely anything fell to land, and if it did, it is unlikely anything would be found".
He said the fireball "probably didn't produce a meterorite," adding that if it did, the size "would be very small - less than a small stone".