A spectacular meteor spotted over Scandinavia on Saturday is likely to have landed in the Baltic Sea, south of Denmark

The meteor that streaked across the sky on Saturday night is likely to have crashed into the waters off the coast of Denmark, according to a leading astronomer.

Michael Linden-Vørnle, of the Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen, said all evidence points to a landing site somewhere in the Baltic Sea south of the islands of Lolland and Falster.

The spectacular phenomenon lit up the skies of southern Sweden and eastern Denmark at 8:15pm on Saturday night for approximately eight seconds and prompted dozens of calls to police and emergency services from worried residents.

Apart from eye-witness accounts, the event was captured on a surveillance camera in Scania, southern Sweden, which showed a giant, almost blue, fireball hurtling across the sky.

By Sunday afternoon, more than 400 people had registered their observations of the meteor on the official Danish meteor website www.ildkugle.dk.

Henning Haack, curator of the Geological Museum's meteorite collection, told Berlingske Tidende newspaper that the event was very unusual.

'What was most unusual was the boom, together with the fact that it was so powerful. I've never personally experienced something like that in Denmark in the 10 years that I have been working with meteors,' said Haack, explaining that the sound likely came from the meteor breaking the sound barrier in the lower atmosphere.

All experts said it was unlikely that any meteorite remains will be found on land as much of it breaks down in the atmosphere. The last time traces of a meteorite were found in Denmark was in 1951 from a crash site near Århus.