Unidentified Object Recorded Over New Zealand Possibly a Meteor
This unidentified object seems an awful lot like the ones seen over UK in the last little while…
Strange Fireball Spotted over Hull, UK Just a Week After a Similar Sighting
Mystery Burning Object over Cambridgeshire, UK Leaves Smoky Trail for 20 Minutes
via Otago Daily Times:
A Queenstown man has captured some mysterious footage above the Remarkables mountain range.
Matt Wilcox was out for a walk when he spotted something odd.
“[It] was probably only visible for around a minute or so. Then it went behind the Remarkables and out of sight.”
Southland Astronomical Society astronomer Mike Bailey had examined the footage and said he believed it was not a plane as it was moving too fast.
“It also looks dirty, aircraft contrails would normally be white,” he added.
The best possible explanation was that it was a meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere.
“It’s likely nothing would have hit the ground, and that it was possibly as small as a golf ball, or even smaller.”
Mr Bailey said this kind of activity was more common than most realised; tonnes of material entered the atmosphere each day.
The video, which was posted on social media, had some viewers speculating it could have been an asteroid.
However, Mr Bailey said that certainly was not the case.
“If that was an asteroid that came in Queenstown probably wouldn’t exist anymore.”
The footage was captured late on Wednesday evening.
Hugh Collins
Otago Daily Times
Headline image: Matthew Willcox
