Watch: Night sky lights up with 'fireball' over Ireland

The mysterious light can be seen just left of centre above the rows of streetlights in the video captured by Colm Ryan's dashcam footage.

Irish stargazers were given a treat on Thursday evening, as many reported seeing a shooting star around the same time as the International Space Station and Starlink satellites were passing over the country.

Astronomy Ireland hailed a “magical night sky tonight” with many sharing images on social media capturing the events.

“It’s not uncommon,” said Astronomy Ireland’s David Moore. “A big fireball was also seen yesterday evening over Ireland.

"It’s clear skies that are uncommon over Ireland. In Ireland, one in nine nights are totally clear.” 

 

He said that Ireland gets two meteorite falls every year, and around half a dozen shooting stars that can happen anytime but can only be seen on clear evenings.

The group’s Twitter account said earlier: “The upside of cold weather. If you’ve never seen the planet Jupiter then just look at the moon now. You’re also looking at Jupiter.” 

 Mr Moore said that the 20 or so Starlink satellites being launched just last week meant it would be prime time to see them over our skies.

“They’re always very close within a few weeks of being launched,” he said.

However, Mr Moore added that the proliferation of such satellites in the night sky would actually be a detriment to stargazers hoping to see the various different natural phenomena that grace our skies.

“The top astronomer in Ireland was recently put as director of the European Southern Observatory,” he said.

“Even its plans for a €1.2bn telescope will see 30% of photographs ruined because of these satellites. I’ve had some ruined too.

“They’re vermin. They’re going to ruin the night sky for astronomers in the future.” 

 Mr Moore added that Astronomy Ireland would be publishing details on its website for keen stargazers to witness the next passings over in the coming weeks.