Asteroid lights up night sky above England

Video caption, WATCH: Asteroid soars above English Channel

Blink and you could've missed it... an asteroid was spotted by some people in the South of England as it lit up the sky, creating a cool fireball effect.

You would've had to have been up really early to see it though, as it entered Earth's atmosphere at around 3am!

Scientists had predicted it was going to happen - only the seventh time an asteroid hitting earth has ever been anticipated in advance.

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, This is what the asteroid looked like over Brighton - it's thought to have been seen across the South of England and Wales as well as on the French coast

Events like this actually happen quite often, but they're hard to predict in advance.

Not this time though - The International Meteor Organization based in Belgium said the object would have entered about 4km (2.5 miles) from the French coast.

It's only the seventh time an asteroid impact has been predicted beforehand.

Image source, ESA/HO

Image caption, Asteroids are usually lots of different shapes and are quite craggy - This one is called the Lutetia asteroid.

The last asteroid predicted to enter the Earth's atmosphere was seen in the sky above Ontario, Canada in November last year.

The European Space Agency tweeted that it was "a sign of the rapid advancements in global asteroid detection capabilities!"

The agency earlier said the object was expected to "safely strike" the earth's atmosphere near to the French city of Rouen.

Were you lucky enough to spot it? Let us know in the comments below!