Experts say a fire ball that streaked across the sky above south-east Queensland last night was a "chip off the old block of some asteroid".

The meteor was spotted by people from the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and across Brisbane around 9.45pm.

Witnesses said the meteor was a green glow travelling from south-east to north-west, leaving a visible trail for 10 to 15 minutes.

Speaking on ABC radio this morning, Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium curator Mark Rigby ruled out space junk as an explanation.

"That's going the wrong way for space junk," he said. "Things are not launched in that direction."

Astronomers also dismissed the suggestion that the meteor was part of the Leonid meteor shower that is associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle.

Every 33 years, the comet orbits the sun and leaves behind a dusty trail.

The meteor shower gets its name because the firey balls of dust seem to be coming from the direction of the constellation of Leo in the north-east.

While the Leonid meteor shower has created spectacular night shows some years, the meteor seen over Brisbane last night was at the wrong time and heading the in the wrong place.

The best place to see the Leonid meteor showers this year was in Russia, Kazak, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal and India.

While the show usually lasts a few nights, the peak of the shower coincided with about 8am Brisbane time on Wednesday 18th.