Meteor seen and heard over New Zealand.

A large explosion was heard thou out most of New Zealand. The cause of the loud noise and the explosion is now known to be a metor which broke thou the sound barrier while traveling and burning up in the atmosphere.



After hearing the explosion I dashed outside to see what had happened. I encounted other residences looking skyward one residence claimed to have seen an explosion and was pointing to a smoke trail in the sky.

At first I thought that an aircraft had created the sonic boom sound we heard but then I remembered that the RNZAF dosnt have any planes that could fly fast enough to create a Sonic Boom. The above media report almost seems to confirm my guess that it was daytime version of a shooting star.

The thought occured to me that Plane may have exploded in mid air but the lack of wreckage seem to dismiss the idea.

I will post more news and links as they come to hand.

[edit on 12-9-2006 by xpert11]

[edit on 12-9-2006 by UM_Gazz]

Quite itneresting indeed. If you happen to be able to gain access to the site itself, could you perhaps get some pictures of anything interesting?

Im in Christchurch where the meteor came down....I'll keep you posted with any pics. scientists are saying that the meteor will have exploded into pebble sized pieces so finding any remnants will be tricky. It sure as hell was freaky!!

Ahh yes I completely forgot it breaks up. So there is no impact site to investigate then right? Well I guess it is safer for us that way.

I agree.....much safer! lol
There are idiots trying to sell "pieces of the meteor" on trading websites here though.......a quick buck for a beach pebble they picked up last month :-)

Heres an update.

Police said a police officer from Lincoln collected the item from a Canterbury farm last night and brought it into the police station around 9.30pm last night.

"It is very light...almost weightless and (the farmers) have never seen anything like it before," said police southern communications centre supervisor Paul Visser.

Visser said the object was about 10cm long, 5cm wide and deep, and too light to be rock, with an "unknown texture".

The exact location of the find has not been revealed.

Flashing across the sky at speeds of 40,000kmh, a meteor in "terminal fireball" sent a sonic shockwave across the South Island on Tuesday afternoon, startling and frightening thousands of residents. The sonic boom from the meteor speeding through the Earth's atmosphere at 2.55pm yesterday was heard by people from Hinds, south of Ashburton, to Blenheim.

Link

The meteor is the talk of much of the South Island, but the chances of anyone finding the space rock are astronomically small.

After a fiery flight and sonic boom, it is unclear if it burned up or crashed to earth.

Within hours of the sonic boom just before 3pm, a rash of objects had been posted on TradeMe claiming to be the meteorite responsible.

Experts say while the original rock was probably about the size of a large ball, it may have broken into pebble-size pieces.

Professor John Baggeley, who operates a meteor radar for Canterbury University, says finding it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

link

The second article may contain info that isnt quite up to date but it might still be worth reading. If a Nuclear powered satellite had crashed it would have made a mockey of NZ Nuclear free stance. LOL

Map South Island of New Zealand

If you dont live in New Zealand click on the link to view a map of the South Island.

Latest news article in link below:

stuff.co.nz...

Including a photo - albeit not very clear.
Rock found is apparently not radioactive.......whew, I'll breathe again now

Here is another update for those who are following the story things are getting interesting. Mayabe it was space junk after all.

It looks like cross between a piece of volcanic foam and a hunk of West Coast coal, but scientists today ruled it out as a meteorite.

National Radiation Laboratory scientists today pored over the 15cm by 7cm by 3.5cm grey-black object found in a Dunsandel paddock yesterday after a massive sonic boom above Canterbury.

Dunsandel woman Tanya Haigh found the mysteriously light piece of rock and handed it to police last night suspecting it might have been a fragment of the meteor that flashed across southern skies just before 3pm.

Under international protocols for man-made objects thought to have come from space, police contacted the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which called in the boffins to check whether it was radioactive and a hazard.

Christchurch-based National Radiation Laboratory group general manager Jim Turnbull said today the object may well have come from space, but it was almost certainly not a meteorite. Neither was it radioactive.

"I think we can state with some confidence that it's not a meteorite," Mr Turnbull said.

link

That is assuming they've actually found it, like it was mentioned in earlier articles the effort finding it would be equivalent to a needle in a haystack. Although any lucky punter can pick up a 'piece' of the meteor on NZ's favourite auction site, www.trademe.co.nz haha. Is the whole country obsessed with that damned website?

[edit on 13/9/2006 by simo]

Originally posted by simo
Although any lucky punter can pick up a 'piece' of the meteor on NZ's favourite auction site, www.trademe.co.nz haha. Is the whole country obsessed with that damned website?

Trademe as taken Ebays place in New Zealand.
People are probably painting rocks and putting them up for sale on Trademe. Mind you if people are navie enough to buy the rocks that have been spray painted someone will meet the demand.

[edit on 13-9-2006 by xpert11]