Meteor suspected as ‘fireball’ sighting lights up Queensland skies

Watch the moment a massive ‘fireball’ lights up night skies as it appears to crash to earth in Far North Queensland.

A meteor is suspected to be the object behind a massive ‘fireball’ that lit up in Queensland skies last night.

The unusual event lit Queensland skies last night with reported sightings stretching from as far west as Barcaldine to Cooktown in the Far North.

The unusual activity was caught on camera by Mareeba farmer Marcello Avolio who regularly posts “sky livestreams” of thunderstorm activity to Facebook.

Mr Avolio who, coincidentally, was watching a Neil Armstrong documentary at the time, said he saw the video pop up on his Facebook feed.
“It was as bright as daylight and because it was a Saturday night and everyone was out at parties, rodeos and festivals, everyone saw it,” Mr Avolio said.

Mr Avolio, said he thought the unidentified object could be a meteor due to the colour.
“Going by the colour and the Australian Meteor Report Facebook page, its definitely a rock or something.

Mareeba farmer Macello Avolio, who caught the unusual space event on camera, suspects a meteor is behind the ’fireball’ that lit up Far North Queensland skies

“To be a satellite or space junk, it’s normally recorded on the internet and they tell you when re-entry times are but there was no mention of space junk entering the atmosphere,” he said.

Judging by the angle of entry, Mr Avolio calculated the landing location “somewhere near the Croydon are” however he said it was up to the experts to find out.

“People from Croydon would see the light and hear the sonic boom from it. I tried to replay the camera’s for audio but sound travels much slower than the speed of light so at the moment I haven’t got anything,” he said.

A Croydon resident who did not wish to be named, said he did not see the meteor but heard the boom as it went past.

“All I heard was a sonic boom and light before it, but I didn’t see it,” he said.
Another Croydon resident, Wayne Muller caught the ‘once in a lifetime’ event while attempting to catch redclaw last night.

“We were camped out on the station at Maidavale and sitting around having a few beers by the campfire when all of a sudden it went bright as daylight,” Mr Muller said.
At first, Mr Muller thought someone had lit up a flare.

“We thought oh, Kim Jong Un has sent over a missile. After a bit we thought, no it’s definitely gotta be a meteorite,” he said.

As the light faded, Mr Muller and his companions heard six sonic booms.

“After it finished, you could see a smoke ring came down level with us on the horizon and got really huge. It had a tail off it too. It was only around tree or four seconds, tops.

“It was pretty exciting anyway. No one would’ve had time to pick up a camera, it was that quick,” he said.
Despite the brilliant display, Mr Muller suspected the metor scared away his catch as he was only able to catch one redclaw all night.

“Maybe they all scattered when they heard it,” he said.

Keen astronomer and owner of Night Sky Secrets, Ian Maclean said he was excited by the unusual display that was likely caused by a small asteroid.

“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.

“That’s indicative of the large megatonne explosion in the upper atmosphere. It’s still some distance away because of the lapse measured between sound and sighting,” he said.
Mr Maclean calculated the magnitutde of light emited by the suspected asteroid and said at its peak, it was as bright as the sun.

“It was between magnitude -15 and -20 which is brighter than the full moon so it was between the brightness of the moon and the sun,” he said.
He compared the once in a lifetime event to a similar sighting in Russia in 2013 which reportedly smashed windows and left many injured.

Closer to home, the mysterious incident is one of a handful of reported UFO sightings in the Far North this year.

Last month, a man reported a mysterious glitch in the sky while waiting for dinner outside a shopping centre complex, the cause has not yet been determined.

Originally published as Meteor suspected as ‘fireball’ sighting lights up Queensland skies