- Two massive meteors flashed across New Zealand's night sky on Sunday evening
- The meteors were seen over South Island and North Island around 8:40 pm and 10:20 pm
- Witnesses reported bright colors, long trails, and loud sonic booms during the event
People across New Zealand have witnessed two massive meteors flashing across the night sky, accompanied by loud sonic booms. According to The Guardian, the double celestial display began on Sunday evening when a large meteor streaked across the South Island. This was followed by a second, equally dramatic fireball that cut through the night sky above the North Island at around 10:20 pm local time.
Dashcam footage, security camera video, and specialist astronomy feeds captured the skies temporarily glowing in brilliant shades of white, orange, and purple.
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In a social media post on Facebook, monitoring agency GeoNet asked, "Did you see the meteor last night? Our volcano camera caught it flying over Tongariro and Ruapehu."
Responding to the post, one local resident commented, "I saw the same thing this evening (29/07/26) at 8:40 pm on Auckland's North Shore, travelling east to west over Castor Bay. It was brilliantly bright, lit up the night sky, and left a trail behind that was visible for over a minute afterwards."
See the post here:
As reported by The Guardian, another eyewitness described the spectacle as "absolutely insane".
"I thought it was a plane on fire. It was huge-the ball was bright orange with a purple tail, and we could see black soot coming off it," the user added.
Another observer noted, "It had a tail that stretched across most of the sky and displayed brilliant colours."
The event was not merely visual; it was accompanied by significant atmospheric sound waves. Witnesses reported hearing a "loud, low rumble" that startled local livestock and wildlife.
One person claimed their "cows went nuts" during the tremor, while a resident in Ruby Bay added, "We heard and saw it in Ruby Bay and wondered what the noise was-it sounded like someone hit a wheelie bin with a stone."
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Steve Wyn-Harris, director of the citizen-science tracking network Fireballs Aotearoa, was relaxing in his Hawke's Bay hot tub when the sky suddenly lit up.
"I saw a big flash in the sky and thought, 'No, that can't be a fireball-that would be too good to be true,'" he recalled, adding that he initially mistook the flash for lightning.
However, within moments, his phone began pinging with eyewitness reports across the region.
"More importantly, what's exciting about this is that people actually heard the sound-the sonic boom," Wyn-Harris noted.
Astronomers explain that because meteors enter Earth's upper atmosphere at extreme speeds, travelling tens of kilometres per second, the air ahead of them is violently compressed. This rapid compression superheats the surrounding air, generating both the brilliant light show and the shockwaves felt on the ground.
