Bright fireball streaks across the sky over Canberra, Australia

A bright fireball put on a fantastic display across the skies over Canberra, Australia, on Wednesday, September 2, 2020. A number of residents said the green object flew over the city around 08:45 UTC (18:45 LT).

According to ANU astrophysicist Dr. Brad Tucker, the meteor likely entered the atmosphere over the NSW Central Coast, then traveled over Sydney, west of Canberra, before exploding with a sonic boom near the Victoria-NSW border.

"This rock comes in when you're seeing that bright fireball that's the rock in the Earth's atmosphere essentially burning up."

"It gets super hot, starts to melt and at some point, it explodes in fragments."

Tucker added that the object would have been 1 m (3 feet) in size and did not pose a threat.

"There is likely somewhere from Jindabyne down to the border with a few space rocks in someone's backyard or paddock right now, but it wouldn't have created a crater."

He continued, "This thing shatters, and a few bits rain down."

Tucker noted that the fireball got its bright green and blue hue from iron and nickel burning up as the object penetrated the Earth's atmosphere.

Featured image credit: Ralph Arn/YouTube