A brilliant fireball lit up the skies above Wellington late Friday night.
The glowing blue-green streak appeared around 11:25pm and was captured by dashcams and security cameras as it flashed across the sky.
People in Wellington, Nelson, and surrounding areas shared their excitement online. One viewer described it as “huge and blue”, while another said it looked like a “giant laser knife” cutting through the sky. Many also noticed a faint vapour trail left behind after the fireball disappeared.
Amal Prasad and his wife saw the light while on a late-night food trip in Lower Hutt. At first, they thought it was a car’s headlights, but it quickly turned into a colourful streak that amazed them. Their dashcam even caught the whole thing on video.
Experts believe the fireball was a space rock burning up as it entered Earth’s atmosphere, otherwise known as a meteor. Professor Richard Easther from the University of Auckland said it was likely a bolide, a rare and especially bright meteor.
Fireballs Aotearoa, a group that tracks such sightings, confirmed there were two fireballs over the country that night. The one seen in Wellington is thought to have flown near Banks Peninsula and may have landed in the sea.
