Extraordinary footage has captured the moment a mysterious bright object raced across the sky above Heathrow Airport, just seconds ahead of a landing plane.
Dramatic scenes show the rapidly moving flash of light descend toward houses below, before appearing to burn up moments before a huge jet comes into view.
It is not known whether the glowing streak was a meteor or the atmospheric entry of some other unknown item of space debris.
It is also unclear exactly how far away the ‘shooting star’ is and how near a miss aircraft overhead may have had.
Footage of the incident, which took place on Sunday, was shared by aviation website Airlive.
Their live cam, set up at the major international airport in the London borough of Hillingdon, captured the moment in detail.
In a tweet publicising the video, a spokesman for the firm described the object as a ‘shooting star’.
Writing on the social media site, they said: ‘Look at that amazing shooting star our cam just caught in the sky of Heathrow Airport!’
The most likely cause of the event is a meteor, according to one expert.
Speaking to MailOnline, Clemens Rumpf, a visiting fellow of the University of Southampton who specialises in studying space debris, said: ‘My hunch is that this was a large meteor about one metre in diameter.
‘These events occur harmlessly multiple times a year but can be spectacular when caught on camera.
‘There was probably no immediate danger for any passenger aircraft as these objects tend to burn up, as seen in the footage, at altitudes of 20 to 45 miles (30 to 70 km), well above the flight level of planes.
‘Larger objects are a concern for public safety as they release enough energy to cause damage on the ground, as with the Chelyabinsk meteor in 2013.
The footage has since been shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, but some disagree with the description given.
Twitter user Paul Mottershead said: ‘That was no shooting star. More like a large meteorite.’
