A dashcam in Rickmansworth has caught the moment a meteor shower entered the earth’s atmosphere yesterday (January 3). 

The Quadrantid meteor shower began entering the atmosphere on December 28 and was set to peak on January 3-4.

Rickmansworth resident Lewis Patterson, 18, had no idea what he was about to witness as he left his parents' home in Highfield Way at 11.50pm.

The Newcastle university student had just set on the right music for the drive and started to pull off when his dashcam caught the rare phenomenon on video.

He said: “In real life, it had a really long red tail and then exploded in a massive flash of light at the end, I thought it was a lightning strike.

“It was so surreal, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Lewis, who grew up in Rickmansworth, said he has witnessed shooting stars before but nothing this dramatic. 

The video shows a bright white light crossing the sky as the car begins to move and Lewis can be heard exclaiming his shock.

Quadrantids are blue meteors with fine trains that appear to come from the constellation Bootes, near the Big Dipper, according to the Royal Museum Greenwich.

The shower will continue until January 12.