Asteroid explodes over the UK

The metre-long “fireball”, dubbed Sar2667, lit up the sky over the English Channel shortly before 3am, local time.

The fireball lit up the night sky. Picture: Twitter

An asteroid exploded over the English Channel in the early hours of Monday morning.

The metre-long “fireball”, dubbed Sar2667, lit up the sky shortly before 3am, The Sun reported.

Sightings were reported across southern England and Wales, as well as in parts of France.

An asteroid exploded over the English Channel. Picture: Twitter

It is only the seventh time an asteroid impact has been predicted in advance.

The European Space Agency tweeted that it was “a sign of the rapid advancements in global asteroid detection capabilities”.

It earlier said the object was expected to “safely strike” the earth’s atmosphere above northern France.

The fireball lit up the night sky. Picture: Twitter

Experts at the International Meteor Organization anticipated the event, known as an “airburst” would create a “fireball” effect.

Physicist and airburst specialist Mark Boslough from the Los Alamos National Laboratory told Wales Online that while airbursts of this size happen several times a year, they are “rarely discovered in advance”.

This story was originally published by The Sun and was reproduced with permission