The skies over North Queensland have been set ablaze by a meteor which swept through the atmosphere and caused a sonic boom.
Residents of Cairns on the east coast to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria reported seeing the fireball grow larger as it headed for Earth just after 9:22 p.m. Saturday night.
Doorbell cameras, cell phones and dash cams all captured the moment the space rock approached, creating a bright, blue-green glow in the dark sky.
Footage from Cairns Airport showed the meteor on its downward trajectory before disappearing in a flash of yellow-orange light.
It is not known where the meteor landed, but residents of the small town of Croydon said they felt an explosion and heard a loud bang.
Astrophysicist and University of Queensland professor Tamara Davis told the Brisbane Times it may have been a “rogue” meteor, meaning experts hadn’t predicted it.
“It really looks like a meteor,” she said. “Meteors hit our skies all the time, but this one seemed to be especially big because it was really bright.
“There have been reports of people also hearing a sonic boom, which is what you would get when you have a meteor going through the atmosphere because it is coming faster than the speed of sound.
“By slowing down, they create this sonic boom.”
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The meteor is not believed to have been large enough to create a crater in the earth, but it may have splintered into smaller fragments as it landed.
Meteors are very common but rarely seen in populated areas.
