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.