Intrigue is mounting following the sighting on Saturday of a mysterious bright light in the north west sky.
Times staff member Clare McGillivray snapped this photo from her Beachlands home on Saturday night. At first she thought it was just the setting sun reflecting off a wispy cloud but wondered if it was a meteorite as it appeared to leave a large trail as it dropped through the sky.
"It took about 10 minutes from first sighting to disappear behind the clouds. During this time it grew from a squiggly line to a straight streak. It appeared to be falling out of the sky or maybe streaking across the atmosphere. Pretty amazing to see," she said.
And she wasn't the only one to have spotted the orange streak.
There were numerous comments from apparent witnesses on the WeatherWatch.co.nz site.
One wrote on the site on Saturday: "Strange light over West Auckland. So about 5.45-6.00pm this evening (30/04/16). I was working at Auckland hospital and happened to look out one of the windows facing towards west Auckland.
Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual eta Aquariid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on the nights around May 5th and 6th with 30+ meteors per hour. The best time to look, no matter where you live, is probably during the dark hours before sunrise on Friday.
"Although the shower's peak is still days away, the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) is already detecting strong activity from the eta Aquariid shower," reports physics professor Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario. The pink "hot spot" in this all-sky radar map from May 3rd shows the location of the shower's radiant (ETA).
Fireball spotted over Okayama, Japan, possibly part of the Lyrids.
Edited Google translation of report:
In 2016 April 22 day 21 hour 25 minutes and 39 seconds, there was a fireball of Lyra meteor shower
The fireball had an absolute magnitude -5.5 as calculated by Ueda of Osakan.
The actual path length was 330.5 km., entering the atmosphere approximately 80.8 km over the border over the Kitsuki vanishing point at km 141.2. It was majestic as it was flying over 7.1 seconds between Oita Prefecture Bungotakada and Hyogo Prefecture Sayo-cho. You can see that was a brilliant meteor from Okayama Prefecture
Southern California residents took to social media after a streak of green light was seen falling from the sky Tuesday night. A news photographer's dashcam captured the streak as it fell over the downtown Los Angeles area around 10 p.m.
Dr. Edwin C. Krupp, astronomer and director of Griffith Observatory, said it was not clear what the streak was exactly. Krupp said based on the description, the phenomenon is a fairly common occurrence where material from outer space heats up, like a meteor.
He said it also could be debris from a previous launch.
NBC4 viewers called into the station from San Bernardino County and beyond to report seeing the curious ball of light.
A meteor streaked across the St. Louis area on Friday at about 10:16pm. We received many reports from viewers about the shooting star. Sightings of the streak of greenish-blue light were reported in four states, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Two of our web cameras caught a great view of the meteor, Eckert's in Belleville, IL, and Mattress Direct in South St. Louis County . In the Belleville view, you'll see the green object streak across the screen followed by a spider walking across the camera lens.
We are in the midst of the Lyrid meteor shower, which is active each year in mid to late April. In 2016, the peak of this shower is expected on the morning of April 22, so there could be more shooting stars.
Comment: Sott.net reader JB wrote in to report that he saw it too:
At 22:16 on April 15, 2016, travelling south/east on I90/39 around Edgerton, Wisconsin, my wife and I were 300 yards from a fast-travelling object falling from the sky trailing green, blue and orange. It was going east to west and it fell to the ground about a football field from the interstate and glowed blue once it hit the ground.
It's unlikely that the main body hit the ground, although smaller meteorites may have done so.
15APR2016 Tiffany Binkley Calvert City, Ky 2230 3-5 N-W green; moon, no I was driving and there were trees all around me, but it looked huge.
15APR2016 Bryan Schaumburg, IL, USA 22:16 PM Central Only seen the last second or two of the burn E-W travel Stopped South West of Roselle Rd, facing SW Greenish White in color, no sound high beam headlight brightness, too dark to see any fragmentation. 7It was already moving fairly slowly when I seen it, and fairly close to the ground, probably below 500 ft. Too short of viewing time for any better guesses or info.
15APR2016 Andrew Rukavina Mundelein, IL USA approx 2215 hour 15 seconds from east to west i was driving south multi colored and very large between the Moon and Venus - very bright and large not sure it was large...it was not a reflection. I pulled over which i never do except once when I saw an amazing display of northern lights it was the biggest thing i've ever seen....I was heading southbound at intersection of 137 and 60 in Mundelein, IL. I had just made the turn onto 60 from 137 and was headed south, so no light pollution to create any illusions... I'm a 59 year old attorney... was not drinking or anything else...it flamed out shortly before it went over the cornfield.
15APR2016 Steve Wilson Rock Island,IL,USA 22:16 in Central Time Zone 3-4 seconds Facing South, I saw a bright white light with a tinge of blue streak from East to West. As bright as Venus on a clear night I'm not sure of fragmentation, but it reminded me of a sparkler as opposed to a single, solid point of light.
15APR2016 Anna St.Charles, IL, USA 22:14 5-10? East to West traveling burst of light/looked like fire. I was driving South on Kautz Rd, near DuPage Airport. A bright ball, looked like fire; it had a tail of blue behind it. I'm not sure I don't think so, maybe behind it. It really looked like it was on fire. I wondered if it was a piece from a plane I was driving, so no photo, Sorry. I know it was something, not sure what. It was not high in the sky, it came across my vision field from left to right (from East to West) as I was driving South. It was cool, but also a little scary. I wondered if it was part of a plane since we were adjacent to DuPage Airport.
15APR2016 Victoriano Berwyn, IL - 2200 5-10secs East to West facing South, green xeon bright fragment trail, green fireball.
What is this mysterious blue-green light crossing the sky of Kherson, Ukraine on April 11, 2016?
Two dashcam cameras recorded the amazing sky event at approximately 9:34 pm Moscow time, so 7:34 pm (UTC).
Has anybody witnessed it?
The Lyrid meteor shower hasn't started yet, but the sky is already producing awesome natural fireworks.
A blue-green fireball (turquoise in the video description) was filmed by two dashcam cameras flying in the sky of Crimea and Kherson on April 11, 2016 7:34 pm (UTC).
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- Thich Nhat Hanh
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Comment: Sott.net reader JB wrote in to report that he saw it too: It's unlikely that the main body hit the ground, although smaller meteorites may have done so.