The Isle of Gigha hit the national headlines last week after residents wrote about seeing mysterious lights in the sky on their community Facebook page.
According to The National (Friday November 10), “a Scottish island has reportedly been hit by a meteorite, with locals flocking to a ‘bonfire-size’ blaze”.
While two days earlier, the Scottish Sun reported that “shocked locals said the meteor was the ‘size of a bonfire’ when it crashed and was ‘still burning’ after impact”.
Further reports suggest a fireball had passed east west over central Scotland on Tuesday November 7 at around 4.45pm.
More than 60 people reported the sighting which broke into a few pieces as it got lower in the atmosphere.
Gigha resident Ellie Logan, who was walking her dog, began the chat on the Gigha Noticeboard after spotting one small piece which she believed burned out over a field in the south of the island.
“I think they have slightly exaggerated my golf ball sized siting,” she said after reading the national reports.
Ellie’s post asked if “anyone was having a large bonfire” as she thought the piece she saw may have been a bit of floating debris.
“It certainly wasn’t the size of a bonfire,” she added.
“It was just a source of amusement on our Facebook page and then the Sun picked it up and made it sound a lot more dramatic than it actually was.
“Several people on the island did see something in the sky however.
“I was just walking my dogs and had moved into the side while a car went by. There was a bright flash in front of me. It was like flying debris which was orange and then turned white before burning out.
“There were no burnt patches in the field or anything. I’m just thankful it didn’t hit me.
“Strangely, though, my phone dropped out shortly afterwards for no reason.
“It’s a good talking point, though, and I like to think that tiny pieces of star dust landed on us.”
Keith Wilson, who lives on Gigha and has a wide knowledge of the night skies, told us: “Possibly something landed but as far as I can tell nobody has found anything.
“The UK Meteor Network disputed the report by The Sun which, I have to say, was greatly exaggerated.”
The UK Meteor Network confirmed it had received numerous reports about the event.
Read more about meteoroids, meteors and meteorites in Keith’s Seeing Stars column on page six.