A fiery meteor blazed a trail through the skies on Friday morning, with sightings reported from Christchurch to Rotorua.
Zoe Battersby, out for an early walk along Jimmy Amers beach in Kaikoura at around 6.10am, said she couldn't help but notice it.
"It was very bright the size of a streetlight. It looked like it fell into the sea," she said.
Alan Gilmore, resident superintendent of the Canterbury University Mt John Observatory, said meteors entered the atmosphere over New Zealand "several times a year", but he doubted that the rock made it to the ground or water level. "This meteor is very typical, and often they burn up at about 70 kilometres up," he said.
"They are coming into a thicker atmosphere, travelling at 30km a second.
"The friction is strong and they slow up and start to break up.
"It's like throwing a stone at a concrete path."
Fire in the Sky
A church worker believes he has photographed a meteor blazing a trail above Cheltenham.
Matthew Pinless, 31, from Fairview, spotted the fast-moving object in the sky while walking along Glenfall Street in Cheltenham at about 5pm on Tuesday.
He said: "I was walking along the road with my young son and I spotted this object moving through the sky.
"At first I thought it was a plane, but then I could see it was moving too quickly for that.
Matthew Pinless, 31, from Fairview, spotted the fast-moving object in the sky while walking along Glenfall Street in Cheltenham at about 5pm on Tuesday.
He said: "I was walking along the road with my young son and I spotted this object moving through the sky.
"At first I thought it was a plane, but then I could see it was moving too quickly for that.
A fiery meteor blazed a trail through the skies this morning, with sightings reported from Christchurch to Rotorua
Zoe Battersby was out for an early walk along Jimmy Amers beach in Kaikoura at around 6.10am when she noticed a "very large meteor".
"It was very bright - the size of a streetlight. It looked like it fell into the sea," she said.
Alan Gilmore, resident superintendent of the University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory said meteors enter the atmosphere over New Zealand "several times a year" but he doubted that the rock made it to the ground or water level.
"This meteor is very typical, and often they burn up at about 70kms up. It's very rare for them to actually land. They are coming into a thicker atmosphere, traveling at 30km a second. The friction is strong and they slow up and start to break up. It's like throwing a stone at a concrete path," he said.
Zoe Battersby was out for an early walk along Jimmy Amers beach in Kaikoura at around 6.10am when she noticed a "very large meteor".
"It was very bright - the size of a streetlight. It looked like it fell into the sea," she said.
Alan Gilmore, resident superintendent of the University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory said meteors enter the atmosphere over New Zealand "several times a year" but he doubted that the rock made it to the ground or water level.
"This meteor is very typical, and often they burn up at about 70kms up. It's very rare for them to actually land. They are coming into a thicker atmosphere, traveling at 30km a second. The friction is strong and they slow up and start to break up. It's like throwing a stone at a concrete path," he said.
Occasionally, I like to search Twitter for meteorite or meteorites. Last night, a bunch of people in Canada suddenly started talking about meteorites. A large meteor was seen - also known as a fireball or bolide.
Those of us in the meteorite hobby know that when someone says they saw a meteorite fall "nearby", it could mean almost anything - there is a common confusion between distance and angular distance. Still, with this many witnesses, it's certainly possible that something reached the ground last night.
Below, I've compiled some of the highlights from Twitter. I've used ellipsis to indicate multiple tweets from the same user.
Those of us in the meteorite hobby know that when someone says they saw a meteorite fall "nearby", it could mean almost anything - there is a common confusion between distance and angular distance. Still, with this many witnesses, it's certainly possible that something reached the ground last night.
Below, I've compiled some of the highlights from Twitter. I've used ellipsis to indicate multiple tweets from the same user.
Posted: August 2, 2009
Date of Sighting: August 1st 2009
Time: 10pm
Witness Statement: I was stood in my garden having a fag and iI saw like a fire ball in the sky. I thought it was a plane on fire because it looked like parts of it had fallen off still on fire but they did not fall to the ground, they all flowed the same westerly direction. I believe it was any explanation.
Date of Sighting: August 1st 2009
Time: 10pm
Witness Statement: I was stood in my garden having a fag and iI saw like a fire ball in the sky. I thought it was a plane on fire because it looked like parts of it had fallen off still on fire but they did not fall to the ground, they all flowed the same westerly direction. I believe it was any explanation.
The cause of loud booming sounds that have shaken houses in and around Port Angeles, Washington over the past week remains a mystery.
Possible explanations range from naval exercises in the Strait of Juan de Fuca to thunderstorms in the Olympic Mountains.
The Canadian Navy confirmed that the HMCS Edmonton was conducting gunnery exercises with a .50-caliber machine gun in the Strait on Thursday -- but not any other day of the week -- from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
But that wouldn't explain why people, such as Marie Barclay of Port Angeles, had her house shaken by loud booms Tuesday and Wednesday.
"It was pretty loud, like a sonic boom," she said.
"All you heard was the boom, and I didn't hear an airplane or nothing like that."
Canadian Navy spokeswoman Lt. Commander Natalie Garcia said that the gun used in Thursday's exercises would sound like a rifle and not an explosion.
The sound wouldn't shake a house on the North Olympic Peninsula, she said.
Garcia said no other Canadian naval exercises have occurred in the Strait this week.
Possible explanations range from naval exercises in the Strait of Juan de Fuca to thunderstorms in the Olympic Mountains.
The Canadian Navy confirmed that the HMCS Edmonton was conducting gunnery exercises with a .50-caliber machine gun in the Strait on Thursday -- but not any other day of the week -- from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
But that wouldn't explain why people, such as Marie Barclay of Port Angeles, had her house shaken by loud booms Tuesday and Wednesday.
"It was pretty loud, like a sonic boom," she said.
"All you heard was the boom, and I didn't hear an airplane or nothing like that."
Canadian Navy spokeswoman Lt. Commander Natalie Garcia said that the gun used in Thursday's exercises would sound like a rifle and not an explosion.
The sound wouldn't shake a house on the North Olympic Peninsula, she said.
Garcia said no other Canadian naval exercises have occurred in the Strait this week.
Posted: July 30, 2009
Location of Sighting: Blackpark Road, Whitchurch, Shropshire
Date of Sighting: Saturday 4th July 2009
Time: 11.20-11.30
Witness Statement: Whilst sitting in the hot tub, looking up at the stars, we both noticed a bright light, which looked similar to a large Chinese lantern, it sort of drifted across the sky in a northerly direction, it suddenly changed direction and headed south east and upwards quite quickly, the light appeared to be a ball of fire, and we watched it for about 4-5 minutes.
Location of Sighting: Blackpark Road, Whitchurch, Shropshire
Date of Sighting: Saturday 4th July 2009
Time: 11.20-11.30
Witness Statement: Whilst sitting in the hot tub, looking up at the stars, we both noticed a bright light, which looked similar to a large Chinese lantern, it sort of drifted across the sky in a northerly direction, it suddenly changed direction and headed south east and upwards quite quickly, the light appeared to be a ball of fire, and we watched it for about 4-5 minutes.
Posted: July 28, 2009
Date of Sighting: Saturday/Sunday 25th/26th July 2009
Time: 11.50pm-1.10am
Witness Statement: Saturday/Sunday 25th/26th July
After a night out we arrived back in Long Eaton & dropped my daughter at her house at about 11.50pm. She signaled to us to get out of the car and my wife & I looked to where she was pointing and saw about 4, what can only be described as fireballs traveling at a lowish altitude in a north easterly direction. They were followed by another 2. We watched them disappear from view and went to our house a couple of streets away. On the journey we saw at least 2 more of the objects. On arriving home, we got out our binoculars and after a time at about 12.15 another one came past over head. Then about 12.30 the final one? (We watched for about another 40 minutes but saw no others.)
Date of Sighting: Saturday/Sunday 25th/26th July 2009
Time: 11.50pm-1.10am
Witness Statement: Saturday/Sunday 25th/26th July
After a night out we arrived back in Long Eaton & dropped my daughter at her house at about 11.50pm. She signaled to us to get out of the car and my wife & I looked to where she was pointing and saw about 4, what can only be described as fireballs traveling at a lowish altitude in a north easterly direction. They were followed by another 2. We watched them disappear from view and went to our house a couple of streets away. On the journey we saw at least 2 more of the objects. On arriving home, we got out our binoculars and after a time at about 12.15 another one came past over head. Then about 12.30 the final one? (We watched for about another 40 minutes but saw no others.)
© Unknown
Residents of Xochitepec were treated to the sight of a "ball of fire" over Avenida Aeropuerto in the Miguel Hidalgo section of town. The witnesses fixed their eyes on a brilliant object in the sky for five minutes, before the sighting ended in a lightning-like flash and disappeared.
The unidentified object's presence drew the attention of many: some took out their camcorders, others photographed the "ball of fire" that seemed to fall very slowly from the heavens under clear skies.
Posted: July 25, 2009
Date: June 30 2009
Time: 12:00 midnight
Number of witnesses: 2
Number of objects: 1
Shape of objects: Circular.
Weather Conditions: Clear Skies, great night. Maybe some clouds to the west. Moon low in the sky, crescent.
Description: Started out as a glow in the distance towards the south. It looked like a plane head light coming towards us, It got brighter and brighter so I asked my mate, look at this what do you think, as we watched it turned into what looked like a fireball the shape of an hour glass, then it went out and became a dimly lit object in the sky. As I watched it looked as if the sun was lighting up the object, sort of a vague outline. More grey then glowing. As I watched I noticed a red light on what looked like one edge of the object. If it had an edge it looked like the lower right corner, as it did not resemble a circle at this time, more like a chunk of something.
Date: June 30 2009
Time: 12:00 midnight
Number of witnesses: 2
Number of objects: 1
Shape of objects: Circular.
Weather Conditions: Clear Skies, great night. Maybe some clouds to the west. Moon low in the sky, crescent.
Description: Started out as a glow in the distance towards the south. It looked like a plane head light coming towards us, It got brighter and brighter so I asked my mate, look at this what do you think, as we watched it turned into what looked like a fireball the shape of an hour glass, then it went out and became a dimly lit object in the sky. As I watched it looked as if the sun was lighting up the object, sort of a vague outline. More grey then glowing. As I watched I noticed a red light on what looked like one edge of the object. If it had an edge it looked like the lower right corner, as it did not resemble a circle at this time, more like a chunk of something.
