Long-duration fireball lights New Zealand’s South Island, residents report loud bang and shaking

A bright, long-duration fireball was reported over New Zealand’s South Island at 15:22 UTC on February 10, 2026 (04:22 local time, February 11), and was captured on a south-facing security camera in Marlborough. Witnesses responding to the video shared by Fireballs Aotearoa said they heard an explosion-like bang, with some reporting that it shook a house or woke them.

In comments beneath the the footage, taken by Lynda Mai, looking south from Marlborough, and shared online by Fireballs Aotearoa, witnesses described hearing an explosion-like sound or loud bang after the light event. One person in Blenheim wrote that they did not see it but heard an explosion, another said a loud bang woke them, and another reported that it shook the house.

One witness who said they had just turned from State Highway 6 onto Mahers Rd in Kaituna described initially thinking they had been illuminated by emergency vehicle lights before seeing the fireball to their right. The same witness wrote that the boom arrived a couple of minutes later and said it appeared to head out to sea toward the direction of Cape Campbell Lighthouse.

Other commenters described the event as unusually bright, with one saying it looked like daytime at one point in the clip. Another said the visibility persisted a long time after the main burn-out.

Fireballs Aotearoa operates a nationwide meteor camera network and invites public reports and footage to support analysis of fireball events, including assessment of trajectories when sufficient observations are available.

Featured image credit: The Watchers