Meteor witnessed across Britain
Police forces say they have received a number of calls reporting what is believed to have been a meteor.
Reports of a "bright light" and an "orange glow" came in across the north of England and Scotland at about 21:40 GMT amid fears a plane had crashed.
The Met Office tweeted: "Hi All, for anyone seeing something in the night sky, we believe it was a meteorite."
Durham Police said air traffic control had confirmed there had not been any incidents of aircraft in difficulties.
A force spokeswoman said: "The sightings are believed to be either an asteroid burning out or similar which has been restricted to the upper atmosphere only."
Meteors are particles from space that burn up as they plummet through Earth's atmosphere, sometimes emitting light, creating a "fireball" effect.
Meteorites are larger, more durable objects that survive heating in the atmosphere and land on Earth. It is not known if that happened on Saturday.
(continued, the aliens are just figuring the range for the big one later in the year?)
