Let us know if you spotted the fireball last night
13:39, 20 Jan 2026Updated 13:41, 20 Jan 2026
There was a lot going on above our heads in Cork last night. The northern lights were putting on an unprecedented display – but in one corner of the sky, a handful of people also spotted a mystery object hurtling towards the ground.
One of those witnesses managed to capture a video of the unidentified object on their dashcam, as it appeared to burn up in the southwestern sky. Sharing the clip online, Reddit user Alwaysname explained that they were driving on the N25 from Midleton towards Cork city when they noticed the mysterious light.
Alwaysname told CorkBeo that the sighting occurred at exactly 7:19pm, just hours before Leeside skies lit up in rare southerly display of the aurora. But while we know exactly what causes the northern lights – as powerful solar storms interact with the Earth’s magnetic field – the identity of last night’s burning object remains unknown.
The mystery object last night(Image: Reddit: Alwaysname)
Expert Frances McCarthy at Blackrock Observatory told CorkBeo that, as of this afternoon, the fireball has not been reported on the register of the International Meteor Organisation. So while we’re not saying that aliens have definitely landed in Kinsale, we aren’t writing it off either.
In the past, lights in the sky have proven to be meteors – tiny pieces of ice and rock burning up as they enter the atmosphere – or even the discarded pieces of rockets. In October, Leesiders were treated to a very unusual cosmic display when excess fuel was dumped from a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket, with one pilot capturing some incredible pictures of a swirl in the sky on their way into Cork Airport.
A rocket fuel dump as seen from a plane’s cockpit last October(Image: @TierneyOisin / X)
Some witnesses to last night’s fireball described it as having a green tint, which can signify the presence of metals like nickel and magnesium in a burning space rock. But with no official explanation, we’re still open to the idea of little green men taking a flight along the Wild Atlantic Way. Let us know if you saw the mystery fireball – and send any pics or vids along to news@corkbeo.ie.
And if you’ve still not had your fill of cosmic displays, you might be in luck – with the possibility of another display of the aurora tonight. Here’s everything you need to know about seeing them over Cork.
Last night’s spectacular display of the aurora was even spotted from parts of the city where light pollution usually makes it much more difficult to catch a glimpse of the colourful phenomenon. It was all thanks to a particularly powerful coronal mass ejection, a huge release of charged particles from the sun.
Usually these bursts take several days to reach the Earth, but this one took only 25 hours – unleashing a stunning magnetic display across the northern hemisphere, with aurora forecast models from the Space Weather Prediction Center showing that it may be visible across Cork again tonight if we’re lucky. We’ve gathered some of the most amazing Cork snaps in a gallery here.