We had here in Finland a very bright bolide during the night of 20th/21st September, at 00:34:41 UT. I attach the FINE images from Mikkeli by Aki Taavitsainen and Jani Lauanne and the color image (with web camera) by Harri Frestadius in Lappeenranta:

Clear skies allowed a clear view of the fire balls which were witnessed right across the UK, Ireland and even parts of north west Europe.

Bright 'meteor-like' tails could be seen in the sky for approximately two minutes at 10.55pm on Friday night.

Reports of "bright balls of fire with tails of fire" came from across the region, including Belfast, Ballymena, Newtonabbey and Derry.

But experts are not clear on whether the spectacular show was a space rock burning up or a piece of space junk, such as a piece of satellite or aircraft burning up in the atmosphere.

Dr Andy McCrea, former president of the Irish Astronomical Association said the display was "spectacular" and "fairly unusual" he said it was unlikely that it was a meteor shower.

20 SEP 2012 P Kelly Auburn, nh, USA 22:40:00

2sec N-E Brite white and orange bright firework like Yes Twin tails

20 SEP 2012 Todd James Portsmouth, RI, USA 2245 EST

4 to 5 seconds South to North Initially white, turned orange, then turned greenish-blue as it got low on horizon Like a flare but definately not a flare. Yes, from the "ball" itself. The tail was approximately 5 times longer than the ball itself. The tail remained a bright white even though the ball changed color. Was definately not the typical "shooting star".

Meteor Bot Internet Query (MBIQ) Bot has just detected a meteor fireball event over California at approximately 10:45 pm 16 September 2012.

16 SEP 2012 steven fremont, california usa 2229 pacific time

2 seconds headed north before disappearing into horizon blue with white trail blue/white it had a tail, it was bright blue, i seen it fly, my view was slightly block by a tree but i still see the light shining through. hope u guys find it

16 SEP 2012 Sana San Jose, CA pacific

left to right red-blue-greenish VERY bright ? This was the largest thing I have seen in the sky in my whole 27 years on this planet.

16 SEP 2012 Jennifer B Paso Robles, California USA 22:39:00

6 seconds North White, many small ones behind it extremely bright, like full moon yes best one I have ever seen

17 SEP 2012 Noel Saipan, CNMI 1900

2-3 seconds East to West when facing South Bright reddish/orange/white center Sun None rapid descent path as if to impact southwest of Mariana Islands

17 SEP 2012 Jeff, Davis, Grant Levy Barrigada, Guam 0840 Z

10 secs S-N white to Green to Blue bright as sun fragmented into two sections very long streak

18 SEP 2012 Marko-mb Slovenia 20:50 UTC+1

6 sec or I was facing West and saw it from W to N Bright yellow long trail. Like I saw it burning. very bright I saw like it splited before it burned totaly I had never seen anything like it and Ive seen many meteorites during nights. Bright, long lasting, very long trail and like it fell apart before burned totaly

18 SEP 2012 kev1ar Bratislava, Slovakia 18:43 UTC

10 sec 280 W moving Left to N bright green bright more than city lights divided into smaller pieces like by explosion no photo

17 SEP 2012 Gill Golding South Devon TQ7 2JG UK 9.30 - 9.45pm

approx 4sec approx E-W white fireball with long tail large firework (rocket) No None

17 SEP 2012 Tom Restronguet, Cornwall 20.4

3 sec East to West Green fireball, no sound Bright as the moon Yes fragmenting Appeared quite low in the sky, about 30 degrees above the horizon, very beautiful and surprising.

17 SEP 2012 Helen Bilgic Sheffield United kingdom 20:44:00

5 seconds NW Bright light yellow sun No I just saw a bright light shooting towards the back of the factory at work

17 SEP 2012 F SWAIN North Shropshire UK 20.45 GMT

5 E-W large bright white fireball with tail moon yes seemed very close to earth

17 SEP 2012 A WOOD GLOUCESTER,UK 20:40 BST

2-3 SECS S-E;N-W LEFT TO RIGHT FACING WEST GREEN VENUS FRAGMENTED INTO SEVERAL PARTS NONE

First Event:

19 SEP 2012 Chris Blackburn, Lancs, UK 1925 BST

3 secs NE sky, R to L White with possible trail Venus No Visible in daylight

19 SEP 2012 Tom Redmayne Skidbrooke, Lincolnshire, 53.42 N, 0.16 E 19.23 British Summer Time

2 seconds Facing N.N.E it fell from Right to left, the S.E to the N.W Bright white becoming orange before disappearing. No sounds. Brighter than Venus not as bright as the sun. One large body and about 5 or 6 smaller pieces falling away beneath it as it fell The smaller fragments fell and disappeared first and the single, large piece was last to vanish. The angle was steeply downward at about 40 Degrees.

19 SEP 2012 Sara Coulson skidbrooke, Lincolnshire 19.20hrs

4 or 5secs E;W yellow/orange sun/venus yes whilst driving looking towards northern sky

19 SEP 2012 David Nash St. Neots, UK 19:23BST

6sec I didn't see the beginning though NE towards N, Right to left downwards approx 30 deg from horizontal Yellow+White no sound, trail Brighter than Venus No Was seen during (fading) daylight

19 SEP 2012 Barry Holbeach Lincolnshire, UK 19.22 UK

time 4 secs E - W facing to North very bright white fire sun no large long burn, half speed of perseid, low in sky / horizontal/ seemed to dip near finish/ don't think it completely burned up

19 SEP 2012 Simon Rummery Kirton, near Boston, Lincolnshire, UK 19.23 BST

It lasted about 2 seconds. I was driving north on the A16 road. The meteor fell from low in the NE to NNE at an angle of 30 degrees. It was a very bright fast moving green light with a trail. It was brighter than Venus. I didn't see any fragmentation. Observed through the car windscreen at early dusk; the sky was still light.

19 SEP 2012 Andrew Tyas Sheffield,UK 18:21 GMT (19:21 local time due to daylight saving)

Estimate that I was looking at it for 3-4 sec before it faded I was facing NE. Meteor travelled right to left and appeared go be heading slightly away from me so I'd estimate that it was heading towards NNE. It was about 20 deg above horizon and on trajectory about below horizontal Bright green. Didn't hear sound ( I was in car with radio on) Much brighter than Venus. Nowhere near as bright as Moon No. Have seen one fragmenting before. This was a single point None

A Massive fireball was seen right across Ireland last night which may be "one of the best ever seen" in Europe and was a "huge event", according to Astronomy Ireland.

The trail of fragments passed across the sky at about 10.55pm with sightings reported from Dublin, Donegal, Cork, Sligo, Carlow, Longford, Antrim and across Britain and as far away as as The Netherlands.

It was "very unusual to see it in multiple countries," David Moore of Astronomy Ireland said.

"I've never seen one fragmented like that and streaked across the sky," he said. The fireball later exploded into fragments.

Mr Moore said the cause of the fireball was not yet clear. "It is a piece of space debris, but whether it is man made or natural is not known," he said.

He said it was too slow for natural debris and was going the wrong direction for man-made debris. "It is probably a space rock that has skidded across the atmosphere." Meteorites will have been dropped "but whether they landed in Ireland or at sea we will have to figure out", he said.

Witnesses described a trail of seven to 12 fireballs in a straight line across the sky. No sound was to be heard either by witnesses in the city or the countryside.

Syracuse -- Reports of a fireball in the sky over Oneida Lake scrambled several area fire departments into action Friday night.

Water rescue teams were sent to search an area off Shakelton Point near Bridgeport around 8:45 pm.

Water rescue teams were assisted by the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department Air One helicopter.

Oswego 911 tells Newschannel 9 that rescue teams found no evidence of any trouble on the lake.

Several of our Facebook fans commented about the alleged fireball, while several viewers called our newsroom at about the same time claiming they had see a light in the sky at around the same time.

The American Meteor Society posted on its website several reports from people who reported seeing a fireball in the sky over the northeast United States.

Raymond Dague of the Syracuse Astronomical Society says he didn't see it, but told NewsChannel 9 he's seen reports on Twitter and elsewhere about it.

Dague believes it was a meteor, probably a relatively slow moving one beginning to burn up as it hit the atmosphere at about 60 miles up. He says these types of natural phenomenon can be quite beautiful and are a rare treat to see.