Hundreds of Australians saw a ‘giant fireball’ streak across the sky on Thursday morning as a meteor traveled across the country.
The meteor’s bright flash prompted numerous calls to 2GB’s Ben Fordham as listeners reported the sighting and sought answers as to what it could be.
Brad Tucker, a space expert from the Australian National University, confirmed that the sighting was likely a meteor.
“It sounds like a meteor, based on what everyone is saying, because of the fast nature of it – meteors move through the sky in a matter of seconds,” he told Fordham.
“A few people noticed the green tint, and that’s the biggest clue because these meteors, which are actually broken-up asteroids, burn a greenish-blue color because of the iron-nickel in them.”
He said asteroids travel at speeds between 50,000 and 100,000 km per hour and it would likely have been visible across Australia.
Hundreds of Australians saw a ‘giant fireball’ shoot through the sky
Australian National University space expert Brad Tucker confirmed the sighting was likely a meteor
“It clearly traveled a great distance in a short time, so it was definitely a broken piece of an asteroid that randomly entered the Earth’s atmosphere,” he explained.
Australians from across the country called Fordham after seeing the unusual spectacle across the sky.
‘Actually I just saw something in the sky and I thought, ‘I hope I don’t lose it.’ It looked like a meteorite or a fireball. It shot straight down,” said Sydneysider Andrew.
John, who was in Penrith, initially thought it was a shooting star but was baffled by its green hue.
Others spotted the meteor in Richmond – about 63km northwest of Sydney -, in the Hunter Valley – about 17km north of Sydney – and over Sydney International Airport.
Graham, from Toowoomba in Queensland, even saw the meteor fly across the state’s southern sky.’
What is a meteor?
A meteor is a streak of light in the sky caused by a meteoroid traveling at high speed through the Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteoroids are space rocks that range in size from grains of dust to small asteroids, with the term only applying to rocks still in space.
However, when a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it is called a meteor or a shooting star.
When a meteor crashes through the atmosphere, it can sometimes burn brighter than Venus and is called a ‘fireball’.
Scientists estimate that approximately 44,000 kilograms of meteorite material falls to Earth every day, according to NASA.
