Tauranga man Josh Sherborne was driving to the gym when his dashboard camera captured the meteor and its explosion. Photo / Josh Sherborne
Tauranga man Josh Sherborne was driving to the gym when his dashboard camera captured the meteor and its explosion. Photo / Josh Sherborne
When the dark quiet of the Western Bay's hills "lit up like daylight" in a blinding flash of light across Bay skies, Tauranga man Tobi Deinlein was left enthralled and stunned at his first meteor experience.
Mr Deinlein had been outside his Minden home celebrating with his parents when themeteor sped by and exploded about 10pm on Wednesday.
"Then all of a sudden it lit up. Everything was like daylight for a split second. We just went 'wow', waiting for the boom to come."
Mr Deinlein instantly assumed the light must have been lightning but soon realised it was something much more rare.
"It did seem different, almost like a little bit ethereal," he said. "It was quite startling. Once we realised what it was, it was quite awe-inspiring. You kind of knew your place in the universe."
Mr Deinlein soon had his suspicions confirmed online, as news of the meteor went viral. "It was incredible, absolutely incredible."
Karin Roussenq in Mount Maunganui described a trail of light, similar to a comet's tail, streaking across the sky.
"I was watching TV and I saw that light, which seemed to be lightning. Then I saw that golden light across the sky - like a tail of a comet - and something falling down like burning up, bright."
Tauranga man Josh Sherborne was driving to the gym when his dashboard captured the meteor and its explosion. By 5pm yesterday his YouTube video had reached 340,004 views.
"I actually thought it was lightning," he posted. "Pretty cool to have seen it happen little ol' New Zealand."
The meteor was seen from Whangarei to the South Island.
Tauranga Astronomical Society's Stuart Murray said it was unlikely any remnants of the meteor would be found.
"Once it starts to hit the atmosphere it starts to burn because of the friction.
"If they are small, they disintergrate," he said.
Mr Murray believed the meteor would have been smaller than the 2-3 metres in diameter as suggested by others.
The blue light that flashed across the sky was the result of the meteor's mineral make-up burning in the Earth's atmosphere. The level of brightness exuded from the meteor was a reflection of its size, Mr Murray said. The meteor is believed to have travelled at a speed of 20km/second about 100km up.
Tobi Deinlein was left stunned after seeing his Minden home light up like daylight in a meteor explosion in Bay skies on Wednesday night. Photo / Andrew Warner
Mr Murray said although the explosion was impressive, there was nothing for people to get concerned about.
Wednesday's event was an example of what happens on a daily basis with smaller "space junk" that breaks or burns up before hitting the Earth's surface - such as shooting stars, he said. "There's so many particles hitting the Earth daily. It's a constant bombardment."
However, visual events like last night's explosion were more rare, he said.
Stardome astronomer Dr Grant Christie said the meteor's trajectory had likely ended hundreds of kilometres east of the country.
Dr Christie said it was easy for people to believe the meteorite had come down on land. "It might look like it has landed just across the hill from where you are, or maybe in somebody's backyard - but in fact it's hundreds of kilometres beyond that - and the reason is these things are travelling so fast, in the order of 20km/second."
Facts about meteorites *Millions of meteoroids (a small rocky or metallic chunk of material that travels through space) travel through Earth's atmosphere each day. *When a meteor encounters our atmosphere and is vaporised, it leaves behind a trail. That "burning" meteoroid is called a meteor. *The appearance of a number of meteors occurring in the same part of the sky over a period of time is called a "meteor shower". *Many meteor showers are associated with comets, which leave behind debris as they orbit through the solar system. Showers occur when Earth's orbit crosses the path of a comet's orbit. *Most meteorites are one of three types: stony, stony-iron, or iron. These compositions tell us where the meteoroid existed in its parent body. An iron or stony iron was close to the core of an asteroid, while a stony object was closer to the surface. - www.space-facts.com
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