President of Hawke's Bay's Astronomical Society Gary Spark said from what he saw it looked like a bit of space junk burning up in our atmosphere.
President of Hawke's Bay's Astronomical Society Gary Spark said from what he saw it looked like a bit of space junk burning up in our atmosphere.
A "fireball" spotted over Napier on Monday evening was likely a piece of space junk burning up, an expert says.
Many onlookers, including one who videoed the spectacle from his Maraenui address, saw what looked like a stream of fire travelling across the sky about 5.55pm.
Some had fairly sensibleand accurate views on what it could be:
"Was just a plane up real high and the sun angle made it look awesome," one said.
Another said: "It is almost certainly a high altitude jet with a short lived contrail."
Hawke's Bay's Astronomical Society president Gary Spark said from what he saw it looked like a bit of space junk burning up in our atmosphere.
"Chances are that it is just another piece of de-orbiting space junk like some that came down a few months ago."
He said that it's quite a common thing to see if you're lucky especially, in Hawke's Bay as most of the stuff that does come into the atmosphere goes into the Pacific Ocean.
