Meteorite lands on Wellington couple's property

Bright lights were seen across New Zealand. Photo / Ekanttakephotos.com

A Wellington couple's Wainuiomata property is believed to have become a meteorite landing site.

Joyce Lockyer and husband Graeme found a dark grey rock in the garden last week after returning from holiday.

It had landed with enough force to leave a small crater and scorch marks.

"It's obviously landed from a great height," Lockyer told Fairfax.

"Fortunately we weren't home and it didn't land on somebody's head, which might have been a bit nasty."

The rock, weighed about 2.4kg and was about 7 or 8 inches across, looked "pumice-y but it is extremely heavy", Lockyer said.

She wondered if it was an "object from outer space".

The rock appeared in their back yard before bright lights were seen across New Zealand on Friday night.

The lights signalled the peak of the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower - created by debris from Halley's Comet.

Wellington Astronomical Society president Antony Gomez told Fairfax the Lockyers' rock was a meteorite, and most likely a piece of Halley's Comet.

"To get a larger hunk of rock surviving all the way down to Earth is rare, and it's even rarer for them to land in a populated area, but it does happen."

The rock could have flown around space for millions of years before crossing paths with the Earth, he said.