astronomy experts believing a meteorite may have flown directly over the Island.

Harbour Radio officials said several members of the public reported seeing flares over Bermuda at around 9 p.m.

But the marine specialists believe the sightings related to a meteorite hurtling straight for the Earth.

Meteors, or shooting stars, are space rocks which burn up in the planet's atmosphere, never actually landing on the globe.

But meteorites, which are often bigger, are so powerful they actually crash-land, sometimes causing huge craters or simply plummeting into the ocean.

A Harbour Radio spokesman said: "We had reports of flares but on reflection, it's entirely possible the object was a meteorite.

"All our reports gave the same description. The object was travelling horizontally, in the same direction, and was very, very bright. It started out as a bright red colour, changing to a turquoise blue colour.

"It was pretty mysterious for a while but then we came to the conclusion it was a meteorite.'' Bermuda Weather Service spokesman Ken Smith said it was impossible to tell if the unidentified flying object was actually a meteorite or a meteor.

"There weren't a lot of clouds last night and there were a lot of stars out so visibility was very good,'' he said.

"Shooting stars are very often meteors. They burn up in the atmosphere.

"Meteorites actually land and that's why they're often seen travelling for a much longer period.

"Either could have been possible last night but we won't be sure if it was a meteorite unless there's some evidence that the object landed.

"However, there are certain times of the year when meteor storms and meteorites are more likely.

"It's all to do with the Earth's orbit and what the planet is actually travelling through.'' Space experts are already predicting some satellites could be in danger next month, when the Earth passes close to the Leonid meteor storm.

NASA's Bermuda Station Manager Bill Way said he had not heard from Houston that last night's UFO may have been a meteorite.

METEORITE FACTFILE Meteorites can be natural rock or fragments of metal from outer space and rarely weigh more than a few pounds in weight -- but can have a much greater mass.

Meteorites enter the Earth's atmosphere at 11 kilometres a second and most theories suggests the space rocks are fragments of a huge rock which split 4.5 billion years ago, possibly also forming the Earth.

The most famous meteorite crater is at Flagstaff, Arizona, which is 1.2 kilometres across.

But the biggest known meteorite crater is at Lake Acraman, South Australia, which is 160 kilometres (100 miles) across and 60 million years old.

The oldest known meteorite crater at Vredefort, South Africa, which dates back around 197 million years.

More than 300 meteorites preserved in Antarctic ice were discovered by US and New Zealand research stations in 1979. The discovery doubled the number of meteorites available for worldwide scientific study.