Eyewitnesses in Cape Town's northern suburbs reported seeing a strange celestial sight on Monday night.

Shortly after 10pm many residents witnessed a giant fireball falling from the sky.

Marianne van Onselen, who lives in Uitsig, said she panicked when she looked out her window.

"It was like gee whiskers, what is that! And I got up, went to the wall outside in the back yard to see has something actually crashed, were there flames? There was nothing. It looked like it was very close."

Astronomer Enrico Oliver explained the object was more than likely a bigger version of a common occurrence.

"It's a much bigger version of what you might call a shooting star. These things are typically the size of a small pebble to a boulder-sized object that enters the atmosphere and then due to air friction just burns up."

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