© Evening Telegraph
People across Tayside were speculating last night after a streak of light appeared in the sky.
Rachel Malcolm sent a picture of the bright line in the darkening night sky to the
Telegraph.
She said: "Just saw this in Invergowrie. "It's like something burning up in the atmosphere."
© Rachel Malcolm
Dr Robert Massey, deputy executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society, said: "At first sight the trail in the image looks like a sunlit aircraft contrail — a vapour trail — set against a darkening sky. When the sun is low in the sky these stand out, and appear much more prominent than in the middle of the day.
"A meteor trail can be bright and linger, but will typically break up with the movement of air in the upper atmosphere.
"There is an outside chance this shows a trail of that kind, but to be sure, I would need to know how long the exposure was, whether there was a fast moving streak — a shooting star — before the photo was taken, and how long the trail stayed in place."
Comment: The American Meteor Society (AMS) has received over 35 reports of a meteor fireball observed over France, Switzerland and Germany on 27th September 2016.
NASA space data supports citizens' observations that - meteor fireball activity is increasing dramatically!