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Gidgegannup farmer Angela Whife says meteorite landed in her paddock, 20m

AN Aussie farmer says a suspected meteorite which flashed across Perth skies this morning crashed on her farm and she’s invited others to help look for it.

A BRIGHT, white fireball which flashed across Perth skies this morning was likely to be a “pretty big chunk of meteorite’’, according to a Curtin University geology expert.

A Gidgegannup woman was one of the first to report the meteorite and quickly went searching for it in a paddock on her property, Mindaroo Stud, some 45km east of Perth.

Angela Whife says she went to check on her cows that are calving at about 8.30am this morning when she saw a bright light in the sky.

Angela Whife on her Gidgegannup property, Mindaroo Stud, where she says the meteorite crashed just metres from where she was standing.
Angela Whife on her Gidgegannup property, Mindaroo Stud, where she says the meteorite crashed just metres from where she was standing.

“The first thing I thought was it’s a shooting star, but then I thought it’s a bit strange because you wouldn’t see shooting stars in the daytime,” she said.

“And it looked round, white in colour and it had a tail of about a metre, metre and a half behind it. It would have been about 10 metres above the ground I suppose when I first saw it and then it landed about 20 metres away from me.”

Dashcam footage shot by a Perth truckie shows a meteorite plunge towards earth over Perth.

However Mrs Whife said she didn’t see anything after that and cannot find any trace of a meteorite.

Hundreds of residents called in sightings of a bright fireball flashing over the Perth sky. Above is a still from a dashcam video
Hundreds of residents called in sightings of a bright fireball flashing over the Perth sky. Above is a still from a dashcam video

“I didn’t see anything and we’ve been looking and we can’t find anything,” she said.

“The light seemed to go out before it hit the ground, about half a metre above the ground and then nothing, there’s nothing to see.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be wandering around in the heat looking for it, but someone might.”

Drivers also captured images of the white flash on their dash cameras and #fireball became a trending topic on Twitter in WA.

WA is no stranger to meteorites — this amazing shot was taken by a local at Mandurah, south of Perth, in 2005.
WA is no stranger to meteorites — this amazing shot was taken by a local at Mandurah, south of Perth, in 2005.

Jay Ridgewell, from the Curtin University research group Fireballs In The Sky, told AAP they had received at least six reports and were confident it was a meteor.

She said if it did land on Earth then it could be classified as a meteorite and geologists would be eager to study it.

“Thousands of meteors fall from the sky every year, but it’s not as common to see them in such a populated area,” Ms Ridgwell said.

Palaeontologist Dr. Mikael Siversson with Australia’s largest known meteorite, the Mundrabilla iron meteorite, which calls the WA Museum home.
Palaeontologist Dr. Mikael Siversson with Australia’s largest known meteorite, the Mundrabilla iron meteorite, which calls the WA Museum home.
Read related topics:Perth

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/western-australia/gidgegannup-farmer-angela-whife-says-meteorite-landed-in-her-paddock-20m/news-story/b955a377cafe9b00fa4021ce8e4b1250