A New Zealand man's dashboard camera captured the moment an apparent exploding meteor lit up the night sky over the North Island.
Josh Sherbourne said he was on his way to the gym in Tauranga on Wednesday night when his dashboard camera captured the bright light in the sky that witnesses said was accompanied by a sonic boom.
The phenomenon was reported by residents of Tauranga, Matata, Wellington, Auckland, Whitianga and other North Island areas.
Auckland Civil Defense & Emergency Management services tweeted the cause of the lights and sound was "most likely" a meteor.
Noel Munford of the Palmerston North Astronomical Society told Newstalk ZB he is "absolutely convinced" the object was a bolide, a meteor exploding in the atmosphere, or else it was merely the earth warming up "for some sort of interplanetary cricket match."
Munford said meteor material was found Thursday.
"There is tons of it, and it ranges in size from sand grained, right up to rocks," he said. "This thing would have been a cricket ball-sized rock that probably broke off from some impact collision between a couple of asteroids a few million years ago and it has been wandering around the solar system until it happened to put on its display for people over New Zealand last night."
GMT 10:53 2018 Tuesday ,09 January
Apple urged to shield kids from iPhone addictionGMT 10:28 2017 Saturday ,09 December
Bitcoin surges above $16,000 as concerns mountGMT 12:38 2017 Thursday ,02 November
Gulf Craft Continues to Redefine On-Water Lifestyle ExperienceGMT 09:30 2017 Wednesday ,18 October
Is facial recognition the stuff of sci-fi? Not in ChinaGMT 00:01 2017 Thursday ,05 October
This new machine will help boost skills of medic at Oman's College of Medicine and Health SciencesGMT 23:42 2017 Wednesday ,04 October
Robots under Swedish forest breathe life into ancient minesGMT 21:31 2017 Wednesday ,04 October
Russia, Saudi Arabia to set up $1 bln technology fundGMT 18:58 2017 Friday ,29 September
Lockheed Martin unveils reusable water-powered Mars landerMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©