Meteor lights up night sky across New Zealand

[KiwiElf]

'Almost certainly extra terrestrial' - Meteor lights up night sky across New Zealand
7:28 AM Thursday Feb 12, 2015

A "blinding" flash, intense explosion and sonic booms experienced over much of the country last night were probably caused by a meteor, experts agree.

About 10pm, the flash, described by many as a burst of blue and white light, was seen from Whangarei to the upper South Island.

WeatherWatch.co.nz, which has a dedicated meteors page, received dozens of comments.

"This was an exceptionally bright flash of light across the country, with many people saying they heard sonic booms that scared them and the animals," head weather analyst Philip Duncan said.

More at link including dash cam video:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11400450

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This was seen over most of the North Island from as far as Wellington up to Whangerei. I witnessed this one myself, followed by several booms like artillery fire a few seconds later. Quite spectacular and follows a similar one sighted approx a month earlier - (Please forgive the somewhat overly sensationalist reference to "extra-terrestrial" by the MS media :rolleyes:) - KE

[Wind]

They just keep on coming...

[KiwiElf]

From reports I've read elsewhere, apparently we're passing through a dense area of meteorite activity for the next few weeks. Use Google for the second dash cam video - it's bound to show up sooner or later (not yet on YouTube), taken in Tauranga, some 200 km SE of Auckland. Looks better in slow motion. They played both on TV1 NEWS a short while ago. ;)

[Innocent Warrior]

Has anyone else noticed a major increase in meteors in the last two years? I don't see lights like that on a regular basis, but pretty often. I'm still trying to figure out what they are, I was thinking they were UFOs.

Edit: The ones I see aren't usually that bright, just a couple of times. I've also seen three meteorites come down close to me in the past couple of years, I'd only ever seen one before that.

[Wind]

Has anyone else noticed a major increase in meteors in the last two years? I don't see lights like that on a regular basis, but pretty often. I'm still trying to figure out what they are, I was thinking they were UFOs.

I sure have, at least since the Russia incident. It's good that so far no other meteorite has been as destructive, sonic booms are no joke.

[Innocent Warrior]

Has anyone else noticed a major increase in meteors in the last two years? I don't see lights like that on a regular basis, but pretty often. I'm still trying to figure out what they are, I was thinking they were UFOs.

I sure have, at least since the Russia incident. It's good that so far no other meteorite has been as destructive, sonic booms are no joke.

Very interesting. I should add I haven't heard any sonic booms, but they've lit everything up really bright, like day time, a couple of times. Thanks Wind, will be keeping a closer watch now. I wonder what's going on?

[Snoweagle]

Has anyone else noticed a major increase in meteors in the last two years? I don't see lights like that on a regular basis, but pretty often. I'm still trying to figure out what they are, I was thinking they were UFOs.

I sure have, at least since the Russia incident. It's good that so far no other meteorite has been as destructive, sonic booms are no joke.

Very interesting. I should add I haven't heard any sonic booms, but they've lit everything up really bright, like day time, a couple of times. Thanks Wind, will be keeping a closer watch now. I wonder what's going on?

Are we now seeing more and more of these types of events these days as a result of the global population now carrying camera phones and installing cameras at every juncture and snapping everything that moves or is interesting to them.

The lovely thing is, we globally, do seem to share the same fascination with normally unexplainable events. Loving it:-)

[Innocent Warrior]

Are we now seeing more and more of these types of events these days as a result of the global population now carrying camera phones and installing cameras at every juncture and snapping everything that moves or is interesting to them.

The lovely thing is, we globally, do seem to share the same fascination with normally unexplainable events. Loving it:-)

Ah yes, we do love a good mystery don't we. You may have a point but that doesn't explain what I've seen in the past couple of years, as opposed to before that. Definitely a huge increase and no cameras in sight, unfortunately, three of them were spectacular. :-)