Fire in the SKY

A rare meteor lit up the skies over Cornwall – and specialist photographer Chris Small was there to capture it in all its glory

A one chance in billions fireball has been filmed exploding over Britain. The bolide meteor was seen heading due west over Bude in January by Chris Small.

The gallery owner was out taking night time photos of the town when he saw it explode and light up the whole coast.

Experts say the ancient ball of rock and metal was probably the size of a beach ball and travelling at many thousands of miles an hour when it exploded over the Bristol Channel.

Chris, 34, regularly heads outdoors with his camera kit to capture the night sky over the town he has lived in for 20 years.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It was spectacular,” he says. “I’ve been shooting a timelapse of Bude at night and trying to capture different areas with the stars moving through the sky.

“That spot is an iconic view of Bude with the pink cottage, beach and harbour. I had gone out a couple of nights earlier but made an error in focus and had to delete it all. But I went out two nights later and caught the bolide. I’d never have seen it if I had not made that cock-up.”