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Breathtaking moment ‘rogue meteor’ illuminates the sky with a powerful beam of light: ‘Night turned into day’
Meteor lit up the sky over Townsville on Saturday
Doorbell camera registered the bright lights
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Images captured the breathtaking moment a meteor fell to earth and lit up the sky before crashing into the ground.
The meteor lit up the night sky over Townsville, in Far North Queensland, at about 9:22 p.m. Saturday as it entered Earth’s atmosphere.
Resident Brendon Scarr bid farewell to friends leaving his home as the dazzling spectacle unfolded above them.
Townsville resident Brendon Scarr’s doorbell camera captured the incredible moment the meteor fell through the sky Saturday night (pictured)
The extraordinary moment was captured on his doorbell camera, with the meteor causing bright flashes of green, white and red light.
“We were shocked because the night sky literally turned into daylight,” Mr Scarr said The courier mail.
An amateur astronomer in Townsville called the object a “rogue meteor” and said he thought it had fallen somewhere in far northwest Queensland.
“It doesn’t happen very often here at all, people who happened to see it should count themselves lucky,” he said.
There were multiple reports in Queensland of bright blue, green, white and even orange flashes, followed by a booming sound across the region, with hundreds of people taking to social media to share videos and photos.
Queenslanders from the far west of the state to Cooktown in the north saw the flashes or bright lights, while people in Perth and Sydney also claimed to have seen the phenomenon.
Jim Robertson’s dashcam captured the extraordinary moment when the sky lit up as he drove down University Road in Townsville.
Mr Robertson said he saw a great light shining in the sky, which lasted only a few seconds.
Residents in North Queensland shared photos and videos of the meteor on social media (pictured)
Jim Robertson captured the meteor as it burned through Earth’s atmosphere on his dash cam (pictured)
He described capturing the flashes on his dashcam as an “accidental” experience.
“We just thought, ‘What the hell is that? Are we being invaded, was it a plane crash, was it space junk?’” he said. 9News.
An expert has already made an effort to quell all rumors about flying saucers.
Dr. Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, said it was definitely a meteor.
He said the incident was most likely caused by part of an asteroid erupting between Mars and Jupiter.
“When it hit the Earth’s atmosphere, it created this bright flash and show in the sky,” Dr Tucker said.
The blue-green color flashes seen are caused by the iron and nickel on the meteor heating up.
The meteor could have been traveling between 100,000 and 150,000 kilometers per hour, Dr. Tucker said.
He said the banging sound people are hearing comes from the meteor breaking up as it approaches Earth.
Some reports said the meteor may have crashed in the Croydon area, 600 km inland from Townsville.
Dr. Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, said it was definitely a meteor
Some Croydon residents reported hearing loud bangs and their homes shaking around the same time.
Scientists believe that up to 50 tons of meteors fall to Earth every day, but most of them are no bigger than a pebble.
Even the tiniest meteors are visible for miles because of how fast they travel and how bright they shine.
Meteors that do not burn up in the atmosphere and hit the Earth’s surface are called meteorites.
Meteor lights up Townsville sky as doorbell camera captures bright light shooting to the ground