Australia: Large Shooting Star Dazzles Southeast Queensland
© redOrbit
Reports of a slow-moving double-headed meteor with an orange tail have been reported from Redcliffe to the Gold Coast on an astronomy blog.
But others think it was more likely man-made space junk.
Donna O'Kearney had been driving north from Canungra on the Gold Coast when about 7:37pm she saw a huge flaming object soaring through the sky.
"I thought it was a plane coming down and I couldn't understand why there was no noise," she said, saying it looked as big as a 747.
"All I could see was a blinding white light at the front going back to orange.
"You just couldn't take your eyes off it, it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
She said it took as long as 10 seconds to make its way across the sky before burning out in the distance.
Meteors are not uncommon sights in Australia, with more than 500 being found on our soil in the past 40 years and even more passing overhead, but the massive size of last night's one was an unusual sight for many.
South East Queensland Astronomical Society vice-president Julie Straayer said her club had been observing the object from Bracken Ridge last night.
"It's more than likely a piece of space junk because of the colour, but it was a sizeable piece and it took a long time to move," she said.
"Most meteors that you see in the sky are only about the size of your fingernail.
"More than likely it would've burned up before it hit the ground, if it did land it would go in the ocean anyway."
She added that it was likely a single piece of junk that had fallen from the heavens, rather than two.
"Because it was low in the sky you get atmospheric effects with it, that's why it looked like it had two heads. If it were two paths it would've had two trains," she said.
"It's like how the moon looks bigger when it's rising, the atmosphere can do funny things like that."
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