Watch: Insane moment meteor crashes in Queensland

One of the nation’s leading astrophysicists has confirmed that a meteor has crashed in Queensland. While many were excited by the event, some are fuming there were no warnings. WATCH THE VIDEOS

• ‘Sonic boom’: ‘I saw the fireball’
• Footage: ‘Rogue meteor’

One of the nation’s leading astrophysicists confirmed that a meteor crashed in North Queensland Saturday night, following widespread reports of ‘explosions’, ‘fireballs’ and a ‘luminous green light’.

While many have described their fascination and excitement by the event, KAP State Leader and Member for Traeger Robbie Katter said he was furious there hadn’t been any warnings.

“When you’re talking about an event that was so significant that it shook the dust off the roofs of houses in Croydon and made every building in Croydon shiver, and was seen hundreds of kilometres away, that’s a significant meteorite,” he said.

“It’s hard to imagine that no one was observing that and it’s disappointing to know (that) if someone was observing that, no authorities gave anyone a heads up.”

Many Queenslanders reported seeing a flash of bright light in the skies on Saturday night.

People from across Queensland had reported seeing a huge bright light flash in the sky on Saturday night, with hundreds of people taking to social media to share videos, pictures and descriptions of what they saw.

Commenting on a video post of the “explosion”, Lilah Yoelu said she was travelling between Ayr and Townsville when she saw the light.

“The light came out of nowhere and got brighter as it plummeted straight down to the ground,” wrote in a Facebook post.

“The Luminous green and orange light lit up the sky. I was waiting for an explosion somewhere near Townsville.”

Many Queenslanders reported seeing a flash of bright light in the skies on Saturday night.

Airlie Wenona Coleman also saw it.

“Seen the same thing here in Townsville but it didn’t light the sky up like that, it was more like a huge flash towards Ingham way. It shocked all of us sitting around the fire too,” she wrote.

Australian National University astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr Brad Tucker the phenomenon was “definitely a meteor”.

“Some people thought it was space junk. It’s definitely not space junk,” he said.

A meteor lands in Queensland. Source: Australian Meteor Reports

“Meteors have a characteristic look. They’re a bright solid light and they often have this bluer-green colour, and that’s due to the composition of the rock.

“A large fraction of this meteor would have bits of iron and nickel in it, which is what causes it to glow that colour.

“Based on the brightness, it was probably a metre-half a metre in size.

“As it hits the Earth’s atmosphere, it glows due to the friction. It’s travelling tens of thousands of kilometres an hour, hits the Earth’s atmosphere, causing it to burn and heat up, which is what people see.”

A meteor lands in Queensland. Source: Australian Meteor Reports

“We also had the sonic boom. That would’ve been it creating the shock wave and part of the meteor fragmenting - breaking apart - with potentially bits of the rock landing on the ground.

“We get meteors like this probably once a month or so, but they often land in uninhabited areas or the ocean. Also, because it happened at 9:30 on a Saturday night, lots of people were out and about and were able to see it. So I think that built part of the excitement.”

A meteor lands in Queensland. Source: Australian Meteor Reports

Keen astronomer and owner of Night Sky Secrets,Ian Maclean told The Cairns Post it is believed the meteor fell near Croydon in far north west Queensland.

“Clearly it’s exploded in the upper atmosphere somewhere in the Gulf region, west of Cairns and was felt and heard in Croydon,” Mr Maclean said.

He said people who lived in Croydon told him their houses shook to the point dust fell from the ceiling.

Mr Katter said he had spoken to the Mayor of Croydon Shire, Trevor Pickering, who he said was “pretty angry” there hadn’t been any warnings before the meteor hit.

“I stand beside him,” Mr Katter said.

Mr Katter said he would be chasing the matter up.

“That will be my job from now on: to find out who observes things of this nature and why no local authorities were alerted.”

“We’re pretty used to being forgotten about, so it’s quite easy to imagine that someone was observing it and just said ‘Don’t worry. It’s just going to land in a remote part of Queensland where not many people live.’ Well the people who do live there are pretty annoyed that they were potentially forgotten.”

“I should qualify that by saying I’m fairly ignorant about astronomy and the impact of these meteorites, so I can’t say this with any confidence until I get a briefing from the appropriate department, but just working off the evidence of what’s been observed on the ground, it’s pretty hard to imagine a scenario where this didn’t have the potential to be catastrophic.”

Many Queenslanders reported seeing a flash of bright light in the skies on Saturday night.

Originally published as Watch: Insane moment meteor crashes in Queensland