Meteorite lights up Irish sky

Dublin, Ireland -- Astronomy buffs and people hoping to make some money were out Thursday looking for the remains of a meteorite seen streaking across the Irish sky.

The fireball was spotted around 6 p.m. Wednesday. It was seen by watchers from Dublin to Limerick and points in between, RTE reported.

If recognizable pieces of the space rock made it to earth, they may be in County Cavan near the border with Northern Ireland. Barry Murphy, a resident of Crimlin in Cavan, said the meteorite was so low when it passed over his house he thought it was an airplane.

Murphy said his attempts to find the meteorite were not successful.

David Murphy of Astronomy Ireland said the group has asked anyone who saw the meteorite to post information on its Web site to help track its course. He said legitimate film is unlikely unless security cameras happened to be pointing in the right direction.

A film posted on YouTube is more likely to be a rocket launch, David Murphy said, and has been making its way around cyberspace since 2008.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).

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