Schoolboy's Photo Amazes Nasa

A schoolboy has impressed experts at US space agency Nasa after capturing a rare picture of a meteor burning out above his home town [Pencoed] in south Wales. (BBC)

Jonathan Burnett, 15, was taking snaps of his friends performing skateboarding stunts near his home in Pencoed near Bridgend when a bright light in the sky caught his attention.

He took two photographs of the fiery ball before it burned out and rushed home to show his parents.

Later, he e-mailed the picture to Nasa asking for an explanation and was amazed to discover that the space experts were so impressed with his snap they had published it on their website.

His father Paul explained: "He has a digital camera and was out taking some pictures of his friends on the street.

"A little boy ran over and shouted 'look the sun has exploded' and Jonathan turned around and managed to take two pictures of it.

"None of us knew what it was and we thought that maybe it was a plane that had exploded.

"We were really keen to find out what it was, and so without us realising it, Jonathan had emailed the picture to experts at Nasa to ask for an explanation.

"The next thing we knew that they had used the picture on their website," he said.

Jonathan, who attends Pencoed Comprehensive School, said: "It was such a coincidence that we happened to be in the street at the time.

"I was trying out my new camera to take pictures of my friend who was doing a skateboarding trick.

"I took the first picture and then about two minutes later I took the second one before it burned out.

"One of our first thoughts was that it was the sun reflecting off the clouds.

"Everyone in school is amazed - most of my friends believe me but there are some who said they don't believe me.

"I am really interested in photography - but I don't think I will ever manage to take another picture like that," he added.

On its website Nasa described the teenager's picture as a "sofa-sized rock came hurtling into the nearby atmosphere of planet Earth and disintegrated".

"By diverting his camera, he was able to document this rare sky event and capture one of the more spectacular meteor images yet recorded. Roughly one minute later, he took another picture of the dispersing meteor trial.

"Bright fireballs occur over some place on Earth nearly every day.

"A separate bolide, likely even more dramatic, struck India only a few days ago."