Seen just before 10.00 pm local time last night (0900 UT 11/2/15) the meteor was extremely large and I expect it to have become a meteorite, landing in the sea.
From a vantage of Flat Bush, Auckland, (just east of East Tamaki on this map) it commenced at about 35-40 degrees above the horizon to the south-west, lighting up the entire sky as it reached peak brightness; estimated apparent magnitude of -13, slightly brighter than the full moon, momentarily.
Being a very fast meteor, it probably lit up at about 100 km above the earth's surface. That is in keeping with an estimate of three minutes for the sound of the explosion to reach us. Using a few calculated guesses, plus constants like the speed of sound, I'm going to say the meteor was some 60km east of Auckland when it exploded, at a height of maybe 30 km.
The remains of the meteor - the meteorite - would have landed somewhere in the sea at about the latitude of Whangarei, 150km north of Auckland.
I can only compare it to video footage of the Chelyabinsk meteor of 2013. I think the brightness and explosion gives the NZ meteor a value of 1-5% of the magnitude of Chelyabinsk, meaning the meteor had a mass of between 1000 and 5000 kg, a fairly big rock!
Spectacular stuff, and now owns the claim to the most amazing astronomical phenomenon I've seen, and that includes Comets McNaught and Lovejoy 2011, which were both sensational, plus an enormous number of meteors and meteor showers.
All estimates are mine as there don't appear to be any better.
Here is the main news coverage, including a dashcam from about 200 km south of us.
From a vantage of Flat Bush, Auckland, (just east of East Tamaki on this map) it commenced at about 35-40 degrees above the horizon to the south-west, lighting up the entire sky as it reached peak brightness; estimated apparent magnitude of -13, slightly brighter than the full moon, momentarily.
Being a very fast meteor, it probably lit up at about 100 km above the earth's surface. That is in keeping with an estimate of three minutes for the sound of the explosion to reach us. Using a few calculated guesses, plus constants like the speed of sound, I'm going to say the meteor was some 60km east of Auckland when it exploded, at a height of maybe 30 km.
The remains of the meteor - the meteorite - would have landed somewhere in the sea at about the latitude of Whangarei, 150km north of Auckland.
I can only compare it to video footage of the Chelyabinsk meteor of 2013. I think the brightness and explosion gives the NZ meteor a value of 1-5% of the magnitude of Chelyabinsk, meaning the meteor had a mass of between 1000 and 5000 kg, a fairly big rock!
Spectacular stuff, and now owns the claim to the most amazing astronomical phenomenon I've seen, and that includes Comets McNaught and Lovejoy 2011, which were both sensational, plus an enormous number of meteors and meteor showers.
All estimates are mine as there don't appear to be any better.
Here is the main news coverage, including a dashcam from about 200 km south of us.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1zX6aTa
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