Meteorite lands in Bedford!
If you were gazing up at the night sky on
Wednesday 19 August you may have seen a meteor plummet from space
and land in Bedford. Bedford College physics and astronomy
lecturer, Nick Allen, saw the meteor fall to earth and says:
"To see a meteor fall is extremely rare.
It fell to the east of Russell Park in Bedford at about 9pm on the
evening of Wednesday 19 August. I would be very interested to know
if anybody else saw or heard anything, because with information
from other observers it may be possible to pinpoint the exact
landing site and find the object. The last time this happened
in the UK was 1991!"
If you gaze up at the night sky for long
enough on a clear night, you might see the occasional brief streak
of white light cross the sky. These so-called 'shooting
stars' are tiny particles of sand or dust from outer space,
entering the earth's atmosphere and burning up high in the
sky. Some of these particles, or meteors, are large enough to
survive the journey right down to the earth's surface. When a
meteor lands it is termed a meteorite.
Join Nick Allen on a journey to the outer
edges of space – he runs a GCSE evening class in Astronomy at
Bedford College, and adds:
“The course is open to all ages and is great
fun. It includes lots of sky observing and use of
telescopes. Come along to get a glimpse into space and expand
your mind with this fascinating subject.”
The part time course, over one year, is
equivalent to any science GCSE. To find out more about
courses in Astronomy, Physics or Science, take a look at the
Subjects we
offer section.