Bright fireball explodes over South Island, New Zealand
Featured image: Eyewitness reports heatmap. Credit: IMO
A bright fireball exploded over New Zealand's South Island at 09:15 UTC (21:15 local time) on June 18, 2018. Witnesses say the object was green or blue and brighter than the full moon.
''Anybody see the crazy lights and hear the boom at 9.15,'' one eyewitness, located at Lake Hawea, posted on social media. ''The sky lit up brighter than a full moon,'' his partner said. His post received 112 responses, the Otago Daily Times reports.
"A bright blue flash that trailed along with a tail followed by another larger blue flash," another eyewitness said, adding that sonic boom hit about a minute later, shaking his house.
Alan Gilmore, Tekapo meteorite authority, who did not witness the event, suggested it was probably a meteor of a size larger than a basketball.
''The boom implies that it came quite low. An object has to come down below about 60 km [37 miles] for sound to reach the ground,'' he said.
The International Meteor Organization received just one report about this event.
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