A mysterious fireball swept across New Zealand

New Zealanders in the North Island have reported a fireball and a large flash in the sky on Thursday afternoon, as well as a large flash of what they believe to be a meteorite.

Local media and social media were inundated with reports and inquiries about the sighting, with some witnesses describing noises, thunder, cracking ears, hair falling out, windows rattling, or lightning or a light explosion. Smoke. path.

Geonet seismologists picked up a suspicious sound wave from the object, and Metservice meteorologists believe they picked up the object or its smoke trail on radar.

Plumber Curtis Powell captured the incident on his dashcam while driving north of Shannon at 1:39 p.m. Thursday.

“We were on our way to work in Shannon when I saw a blue streak across the sky and then a big bright light,” he said. “I realized my dashcam was recording and downloaded the video – a once in a lifetime show.”

On social media, people shared photos and traded stories of what they saw. “I’m so glad someone caught it. I thought I was hallucinating,” commented one.

Many people mistook the screeching sound for an earthquake. “We thought it was an earthquake, but it didn’t sound right, like a big heavy truck, with a beeper, but there were no trucks near our house at that time. The house also shook a bit,” said one Twitter user.

Duncan Steele, a Wellington-based space scientist who worked for NASA, said the object was likely a meteorite and that seeing one during the day was a rare experience.

“In my life I have seen only one meteor during the day. Macrometroids in the atmosphere cause them to arrive very quickly, typically around 30 km/s. “To be visible in the daytime, it has to be very large, the size of a rugby ball or bigger, which makes them rare,” he said.