Planes explanation for ‘meteor’ display
A SPECTACULAR “meteor” display in the skies above Tayside early yesterday was actually a pair of aeroplanes en route to the Continent, according to Dundee’s city astronomer.
Calls were received at The Courier from people in Angus, Dundee and Perthshire who had seen trails of bright, bluish light at around 7.15 am.
Kirriemuir resident Walter Aitchison explained, “It was like a meteor type thing—I have never seen anything like it before.
“A light passed across heading in the direction of Meigle, and at first I thought it was an aeroplane. Then there was sparks or shooting lights coming out the back of it.”
City astronomer Bill Samson, who also witnessed the phenomenon, offered a more mundane explanation for the colourful trails.
“I was sitting in my armchair looking out to the east at the back of seven, and two aeroplanes went across,” said Mr Samson. “It was very spectacular and was made bright pink because of the rising sun.
“I think it was just the actual angle of light coming up from the sun making these things really prominent in the sky.
“I think the planes were probably coming from America over Greenland and were heading in the direction of Amsterdam.”
The city astronomer said that the Mill’s Observatory had received a number of reports recently about shooting stars visible in the sky.
He said, “In fact we saw two of them from inside the observatory last night.”
