Glowing Ball Seen Over N.Z

[Mark]

Police and MetService have received dozens of calls this evening about an object seen in the skies over New Zealand described as looking like a "crashing satellite".

The police received more than 20 calls about 7pm from people concerned about what the object is, a communications spokesman said.

The spokesman said it was a contrail, which is a trail of condensation left by plane's flight path.

MetService received numerous calls from residents in the lower North Island and upper South Island.

Calls had been mainly from Wellington, Kaikoura and Otaki.

Several Wellington Stuff readers said they'd seen it. Some described it as a shooting star which burned yellow and green.

One reader described it as a "glowing ball" shooting through the sky at speed.

"It left a distinctive vapour trail and it wasn't in a straight line, it was curved and irregular. It then exploded and the vapour trail ended. I could still see the glowing ball and after a second it exploded again and I could see the vapour trail again."

Others said it moved in a zig zag pattern rather than a straight line and "popped twice and disappeared".

A Wellington resident said it looked like a "crashing satellite". They said it "exploded in the sky with a green flash".

WeatherWatch.co.nz tweeted that a "spectacular fireball", thought to be a meteor was seen over Wellington and Christchurch.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6681706/Glowing-ball-seen-in-NZ-skies

• Tweet

[JennyLeez]

[gabba]

Yep - saw this on the way home tonight - shame I was on a bus at the time, and the sun was going down. By the time I got off, the sun had gone off it, so couldn't be seen

[Suezy]

LATEST: A flaming object spotted streaking across the sky above New Zealand tonight was likely a meteor, a sky observer says.

Earth and Sky senior observer Matt Hall said several people at the Mount John University Observatory near Tekapo witnessed the fall of the burning object.

It was most likely a meteor, he said.

"As it enters the Earth's atmosphere, it burns up into smaller pieces," he said.

"They saw quite a bright light shooting from northeast to east with what looked like bright sparks coming off the back of it."

Meteors often looked like they were overhead when in fact they were a long way away, he said.

A Christchurch police spokesman said they had received about a dozen calls about "funny lights", "booming sounds" and "green flashing lights".

Several staff members had also seen the meteor, he said.

Press readers from across New Zealand have confirmed they saw an object, which appeared on fire, travelling across the sky tonight with bursts of flames and explosions, leaving a white trail.

Westmorland man Theo Newfield said he spotted the object and smoke moving slowly from west to east just after sunset, around 6.30pm.

''I was outside having my cup of coffee and I saw a smoke trail and a burning object pass right over the top of the city.

''It was burning and something would burst into flame ... there were explosions in it. It lasted about three or four seconds,'' he said.

Somerfield man Paul Durdin emailed The Press to confirm he also saw the object.

"We're based in Somerfield and saw it out to the northeast heading south. Good luck with timing I guess, as it was gone in a few seconds. (It was) quite spectacular."

The object was also spotted by a Sheffield family who described the sight as "amazing".

Another Christchurch man said he "saw something travelling across the sky when heading down Lincoln Road, I was travelling from west to east and then there was a fireball and it was gone, just a trail from where it had been.

"It was a little concerning, I looked to see if there were more or if it had come to the ground."

Did you see the meteor or photograph it? Email The Press at reporters@press.co.nz.