Doorbell video cameras capture meteor shooting across Midlands sky

A meteor streaking across the sky over Birmingham has been caught on this doorbell video camera.

A meteor was spotted streaking across the sky over the Midlands on Monday night.

The moving bright light and 'whooshing' noise was captured by locals around the region, shortly after 8.00pm on Monday night (January 9).

The Met Office confirmed that a meteor had been seen just after 8.00pm following a clear night for many parts of the country.

Another doorbell camera in Wolverhampton captured the meteor.

• What is a meteor?

A meteor and a shooting star are the same thing.

When you see a shooting star, it's a small piece of interplanetary matter, called a meteor, entering the Earth's atmosphere and 'burning up' at a height of about 100 km.

These small particles move very fast relative to the Earth. When they enter the Earth's atmosphere, they are completely evaporated and the air in the path of the meteor is ionised.

The light you see is from the emission of radiation from the ionised gas and from the white-hot evaporating particle. The trail is the hot gas gradually cooling down.