Meteor flash 'like lightning'

The meteor on Wednesday night.

The bright white light that illuminated the night sky across New Zealand was spotted from many Northland locations.

Witnesses from the Far North to the upper South Island reported seeing the bright light, with some hearing a sonic boom, around 10pm on Wednesday.

Auckland Stardome astronomy educator David Britten said witness reports were consistent with meteoritic material or space rocks entering the atmosphere.

Chris Jack was sitting on the deck of his Waipu house when the sky went from dark to a flash of white.

"There was a big flash and I thought "Oh my God it's lightning, here comes a storm," but it never eventuated," Mr Jack told the Advocate.

"It lit the whole night sky but it didn't look like a meteor. It looked like lightning. It was very light and very dramatic. That was the excitement of our evening."

He did not think about it again until he read about it in the news yesterday. "I made a wish this morning when I realised. I think it's really amazing."

Onerahi resident Haylee Thorne was in bed watching a movie with the curtains shut when her house lit up.

"I saw this flash and it was really light, and then I heard this boom. I just thought that was extremely weird. It was like a UV bulb bursting or something like that. My whole house was dark and then it lit up."

The sonic boom sounded like "a large plank of wood being dropped on concrete". It was not until she logged into Facebook that she learned it could have been a meteor.

Stephen Western was hosting a barbecue at his home in Russell when the clouds lit up about 10pm. He assumed the flash, which appeared to come from the east, was from a lightning strike but he did not hear thunder.

The Northern Advocate Facebook page attracted comments from people across Northland.

Carrie Cross saw it at Tokerau Beach in the Far North, while Rob Fisher saw a flash over Tutukaka.

"I thought it was lightning too, waited for the thunder but nothing came, didn't think anymore of it until news this morning, if there was any sonic boom it was probably drowned out by the wind," Mr Fisher wrote. Patricia Ann Ace saw it when she was leaving work in Whangaroa and also thought it was lightning.