Flaming object over Midlothian, UK
© Briege Reynolds
Locals in Midlothian were left puzzled after spotting a mystery object hurtling through the sky and trailing smoke in its wake - so, we asked the experts what it was.

Videos and pictures emerged showing what witnesses described as a "flaming" object falling from the skies over Midlothian last week, on Thursday night.

Gorebridge resident, Briege Reynolds, initially thought it was a crashing helicopter but believes it wasn't an aircraft at all.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live previously, she said: "I was actually feeding my dogs in the kitchen and the back door was open when I saw it, so I just pulled out my phone to video it.

"I thought it was something crashing, like a helicopter, but it didn't look like a helicopter. It looked like a half-circle, kind of like a capsule. There was a trail of orange smoke, and then there was no smoke, and it seemed to be spiralling down."


Similarly, another local left in awe by the scene, who was walking in Dalkeith Country Park at the time, said they saw "flames coming from the front at one point like it was burning".

Scientists, approached by Edinburgh Live for insight into what the object may have been, said it is clearly something in the atmosphere generating a trail but were not able to identify exactly what it was for a number of reasons.

However, expert astronomers, who viewed footage of the event, suggested it could have been a satellite or other re-entry of a man-made object into the atmosphere - or even a fireball.

According to the International Meteor Organisation, fireballs appear similar to meteors but are even brighter and disintegrate to the point where they no longer produce light as they fall from the sky.

While they occur every day all over Earth, they are said to be "a rare spectacle that is witnessed very few times per lifetime" and can be easily missed if you're not outside facing the right direction.

They say that the easiest method to determine whether a meteor was a fireball or not, is if the object was brighter than any object in the sky except for the sun and the moon - do you think you've ever seen a fireball?