A fireball was seen on Tuesday, shortly after 10:20 PM, over part of the North Island. This is the second such phenomenon in a few days – another meteor flew over the South Island on Sunday evening.
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Footage captured by dashcams, surveillance cameras, and special meteor observation cameras shows a bright flash lighting up the sky over the North Island. At the same time, dozens of people on social media reported hearing a “huge boom” accompanying the phenomenon.
“Complete madness. I thought a plane was on fire,” wrote one commenter.
“It was huge – the fireball was orange with a purple tail. We saw black soot coming off it,” another said.
Another witness said it was the biggest meteor he had ever seen. “Its tail stretched almost across the entire sky and shone with impressive colors,” he wrote.
Another person said they heard a “loud rumble” that scared away nearby birds, and yet another witness said his “cows just went crazy.”
“We saw and heard it in Ruby Bay. At first, we didn’t understand what caused the sound – it sounded like someone hitting a trash bin with a stone,” said another resident.
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Meanwhile, Steve Wynas-Harris, head of the organization “Fireballs Aotearoa,” which brings together geologists, astronomers, and citizen scientists who monitor meteors and meteorites, was relaxing in a whirlpool bath in Hocks Bay when the sky was suddenly lit up by a bright flash.
“I saw a big flash in the sky and thought: no, it can’t be a fireball – it would be too good to be true,” he said.
At first, he thought it was lightning, but soon his phone started buzzing with reports from witnesses.
“The most important thing about this case is that people heard the sound, the shock wave,” he said. This means the meteor flew quite close to the Earth’s surface.
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