© Steve Hooks Steve Hooks caught the 'fireball' on camera
The large meteor was spotted by several residents at around 10.10pm as it fell over the north west on what was a clear, crisp night.
Denise Kennedy-Scott was in her garden close to Blackburn Rugby Club when she spotted the fireball.
She said: "I was looking across the field and looked up to see what looked like a white shooting star to start with, but as it got closer — and it was moving slowly — it got bigger and bigger.
"It had a long white tail and then it burst into flames and disappeared across the sky over Ramsgreave.
"It did not make any sense at all. I have never seen anything like it before in my life.
"It was quite scary really. I thought the world was coming to an end or a plane was breaking up."
It was only when Denise logged on to her computer she realised what the phenomenon was, and discovered several other people had spotted it too.
Indeed, the Lancashire Telegraph received several calls from residents asking us to investigate what they had seen.
Star-gazers who witnessed the fireball's blaze of glory above their heads logged on to the Armagh Observatory's website to report what they had seen.
People from as far away as Glasgow, Belfast, Staffordshire, and Wales were among those who all reported the fireball at the same time.
Richard Kacerek, co-founder at the UK Meteor Observation Network, said they had received 18 reports by yesterday afternoon.
He said: "This particular fireball was captured by at least two of our cameras in Ireland and possibly by a third.
"It was not as bright as a full moon but it was close, and it was much brighter than Venus, which is usually the brightest object in the sky.
We are about to enter the peak period for the return of the big one. I make this May to June this year based on the previous sightings which suggest a period (reducing and not two body orbit) of just under four years this time around.
So please keep an eye out for a huge mega asteroid over the next few months which will likely appear at dusk (wherever you are) in the southern sky travelling about 37,000 miles per hour and heading north. It will likely appear black against residual light but fringed with ruddy orange flame, especially around the leading edge with a fairly low bandwidth flicker of a few Hz dues to its large size.
The apparent size will vary relative to your position and is about moon sized ten degrees above the horizon to fist sized directly overhead. If Itys exhibits a tail this will likely be initially black and not igniting for many degrees of azimuth behind the head.
Anyway I cannot guarantee the return period as orbital data is certainly incomplete. If Itys does return it is entirely possible it will not be seen or reported.
Please be vigilant, keep and eye out, and of course:
YHBW!