Astronomers are searching for a meteorite after a large fireball was seen over the North Island during the weekend.
New Zealand-based meteor-tracking organisation Fireballs Aotearoa said the meteor probably landed in Northland, somewhere between Dargaville and Whangarei.
On Saturday morning, witnesses across the upper-North Island reported seeing a green streak in the sky, followed by a bright orange light and a sonic boom. The whole display lasted for just 6 seconds.
A Northland farmer was the first person to report the sighting. “I turned around thinking it was a vehicle on the road behind me,” they said. “It’s by far the biggest event I’ve seen in the night sky, and I’ve spent a lot of hours following cows in the dark.”
Geologist James Scott, a member of Fireballs Aotearoa, said that with enough information his team could identify the landing site of the meteor.
“We have imagery from three security cameras, but of course there are far more that would’ve caught it,” he said.
“If we had enough imagery we could probably triangulate, quite precisely, where that meteorite fell.”
Scott encouraged people to check their home security footage and submit it if the meteor was captured. This would help the team narrow down the landing zone.
Stardome Astronomer Josh Aoraki said that if the meteorite was found, it would be a special opportunity.
“These rocks date back to billions of years ago, so they’re like time capsules,” he said.
“These things are particularly significant because they provide information about the solar system. They’re a real scientific gold mine if you can get your hands on them, and New Zealand has very few.”
He hoped that nobody would steal the meteorite for themselves.
“We hope they would donate it to a museum where people could actually look at it and interpret the history it has within it,” he said. “They’re much more valuable to science than they are to people.”
