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A meteor that lit up the sky triggered a series of calls to police from people claiming it shook their homes.

BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE Screengrab dated 29/02/16 taken from video issued by Bill Addison of a suspected meteor shower which was witnessed across Scotland, and prompted many to report the sight of a "fireball" in the sky and a violent bang. Image by: Bill Addison/ PA Wire.

BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE Screengrab dated 29/02/16 taken from video issued by Bill Addison of a suspected meteor shower which was witnessed across Scotland, and prompted many to report the sight of a “fireball” in the sky and a violent bang. Image by: Bill Addison/ PA Wire.

The spectacle on Monday evening was witnessed across Scotland, and prompted reports of a “fireball” in the sky and a violent bang.

A number of dash cam videos captured the moment sparking social media speculation over its cause with theories suggesting a plane fire, military activity or, perhaps more far-fetched, linked to British astronaut Tim Peake.

Police Scotland said they began receiving calls in the north east at around 6.55pm on Monday.

A spokeswoman said: “One told us the sky had been lit up with an object like a fireball. Another caller said there was a very loud bang and others said the house shook.

“We know police in Inverness and in the south also received calls – it was seen by people across Scotland.

“We have checked and been told it was likely to be a meteor shower.”

Steve Owens, Glasgow Science Centre planetarium manager, cleared up the doubt and identified it as a piece of burning space rock “about the size of a tennis ball”.

He said: “I didn’t catch it myself but from the footage I’ve seen on social media it’s clear to me what you can see is what happens when space rock – a meteor – burns up in the atmosphere.

“It was probably about the size of a tennis ball or maybe even a watermelon.

“Basically it was a lump of space rock and as it moves through the atmosphere the air in front of it becomes compressed and ‘super heats’ causing the rock to melt and cause the bright light and explosion that was seen.

“They do happen regularly, probably about 500,000 a year across the world but they can take place during the day making them difficult to spot, or over uninhabited land, so for people to actually witness it in the UK and capture footage is fantastic.”

Mr Owens said it was difficult to tell how far away the meteor was – but it could be between 20 and 40 miles up in the atmosphere.

“With the amount of recorded footage it may be possible to triangulate the direction and height of it but I doubt any will have ended up on land,” he added.

Driving instructor Bill Addison, 57, said he was on his way to collect a student at around 6.45pm when he saw the sky turn an “electric blue”.

He captured the dazzling moment on a dashboard camera, between the villages of Cullen and Arradoul in Moray.

“I was driving along the road and there was a big flash in the sky that looked like a bright, electric blue spark,” he said.

He added that the road had turned blue as the light came up behind him, making him think it was an explosion.

“I thought it was a plane coming down at first, but it was moving too fast,” he said.

“I’m used to seeing funny things from spending so much time on the road, but I’ve never see anything like this.”

Inverness SNP member Jackie Hendry tweeted: “Did anyone else see that big white flash in the sky … I reckon it was Tim Peake.”

Another Twitter user, SteveCDT1986, wrote: “Big white flash and some sort of meteor in the night sky. Looked really close aswell. #endoftheworld #armageddon.”

(Press Association)