'Fiery' meteor sighted
By SHAHRA WALSH - The Press
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A fiery meteor blazed a trail through the skies this morning, with sightings reported from Christchurch to Rotorua.
Did you see the meteor? Did you take a photograph? Email newstips@stuff.co.nz.
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, 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,” he said.
Gilmore said as the meteor breaks up, witnesses often see a bright flash known as a 'terminal fireball'.
He said meteors "burning up coming through air - white hot with friction - start to glow". Meteors could be seen from as far as 100kms up and could be seen from almost 1000kms away.
"They are spectacular, often a bright white centre which is the actual rock, - a tiny, brilliant star - with a teardrop-shaped glow that’s brilliant emerald green caused by the oxygen and the radiation coming off the rock," he said.
Gilmore said on the rare occasion that a meteor lands - then becoming known as a meteorite - its arrival is often heralded with a sonic boom caused by the temperature layers that exist closer to the surface, below 60kms.
Because of the range of reported sightings, Gilmore expected the meteor entered the atmosphere somewhere over the North Island.
"The impression of closeness is deceptive. Because they are bright, people think [the meteorite] landed a couple of paddocks away."
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Didn't see this one but saw one about 15 years ago and wont forget it. It was just like a really long thin bright green line, like the line formed by a fireworks sparkler if you wave it in the air, but perfectly straight, smooth and travelling horizontal to the sky (not decreasing vertically). It passed directly above me and seemed like only about 10 Metres high in altitude (hitting tree height), very slow and was completely silent. The tail was long - probably 20% of the visible sky - watched it for probably 5 seconds after it passed over me and 'looked' like it disappeared somewhere not too far from my house.
-KENT
I was in the Parking Lot at New World City in Wellington, I had Happened to Look up as a Bright Light caught my eye. It was a Lot larger than a Shooting Star! It Was a Great large ball of fire, The Weird thing is it was heading downwards, Where it has landed i have no idea, I looked at the time it was exactly 6.10am this morning
saw it at timaru about 0610 am
was looking at the wildfire in the mountains
went behind trees so difiicult on loction .
but up the coast from washdyke in ne direction
Maritime radio had heaps of reports for ship in distress
big enough for me to call timaru police about it
lol, I second Tom @ #4.
I saw it this morning from Berhampore, Wellington, I could swear I saw it split in two just before disappearing over the horizon.....then again it was 6am.....
It landed down Hair street in Wainui. thought it was just another earthquake.
Yeah saw it from the Bay, CM is from Wainui....lol
any chance of having this covered in more detail? i remember a "meteor" back in like 2005 that shook windows all over canterbury. that was not a meteor but a LEO object coming down.. it's not rocket science, it's orbital physics.
@Suzi: a falling star? What's that?
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I seen one from Christchurch, not this morning, but at about 5:20pm this evening. Was a bright bluey/green color and flew through the sky but disappeared. Thought Id look it up on the computer to see if anyone else had seen it and came across this. Must of been a day for them =)