Wellington: A suspected exploding meteor plummeted to earth over New Zealand on Tuesday, leaving a long white trail and causing a sonic boom that rattled windows across the Pacific nation's South Island.
The boom was reported throughout the Canterbury region on the east coast, prompting a flood of calls to emergency services.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a bright white trail in the sky with pieces breaking off.
"We witnessed part of an object just breaking up. It was bright and silver and it had purple and red flames and it landed in a paddock," a woman named Rae told Radio New Zealand.
There were no reports of any debris being found.
Christchurch resident Robin Clements said he heard a bang and thought it was an earthquake.
"It was short and sharp and like an explosion, it could have been an earthquake, but we waited for the rumble and nothing happened," he said.
The Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences said none of its instruments had registered any shocks.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force said that none of its planes was fast enough to break the sound barrier.
Scientists said that the object was probably no bigger than a basketball.
"Earth is being hit by particles, little bits of early solar system, all the time or it might be a piece of space junk like old satellites," said Jenny McCormick of the Auckland-based Stardome Observatory.
"Normally it happens at night and we call them a shooting star,” he added.
Comments
0 comment