Space enthusiasts are seeking security footage that might show a meteor crashing through the atmosphere. On Easter Friday night, people from the South Island to Auckland reported seeing a bright light streak across the sky or hearing a loud boom. One person even said their house shook.
Jesse Stayte from the group Fireballs Aotearoa explained that an airplane contrail seen in the Bay of Plenty/Waikato region at the same time made it hard to determine what exactly had been seen. However, he noted that the boom sound could be a clue, as it suggests the event was not caused by an airplane.
Fireballs Aotearoa is asking people to check their security cameras and dashcams for any footage that might help identify what happened. While they can’t yet provide any specific locations to look for a possible new meteor, more information and images could help narrow down the search.
Earlier this month, a fireball was seen from Queenstown and later found south of Lake Tekapo by a Fireballs Aotearoa search team. This was only the tenth meteorite discovered in New Zealand, and the first time a fireball was tracked so a meteorite could be retrieved.
Fireballs Aotearoa, a citizen science project run by the astronomy community and the Universities of Otago and Canterbury, has set up about 110 specialized night-sky meteor spotting cameras across New Zealand. The aim is to increase the chances of spotting meteors and finding more meteorites. The two recent fireball sightings were unrelated, but the awareness from the first sighting may have helped people notice the second one.
