Hundreds of residents have reported seeing a “flash of light” in the sky, followed by a “tremor”, and there are reports that a meteor, or space junk, hit near Gladstone, Queensland, last night.
Geoscience Australia have since officially ruled out an earthquake. And experts know for a fact it wasn’t a comet as Queensland would no longer exist. No one has mentioned anything extra-terrestrial yet.
Since then, a video clip has been released of the bright lights – and while it’s hardly concrete proof of a meteor landing, it does look as though something unusual was happening in the night skies.
A US-based astrophysicist told the Gladstone Observer that the object was most likely a meteor, saying: “This sounds like a big (meteor), first in several years that has been that big.
“It’s not a comet, or Queensland wouldn’t exist anymore (and we’d have seen it coming for days).
“It is probably a large meteor. I’m guessing a rock about a metre across, which would have been big enough perhaps to leave fragments on the ground.”
Professor David Parkinson, of the University of Queensland, said the “description is consistent with a meteor impact”.
“The loud boom and bright light suggest an explosion of some kind, so meteor impact sounds like the best explanation, as far as we know at the moment.”
Professor Parkinson also said he doubted it was space junk, as it is “usually not large enough to survive re-entry and reach sea-level as a complete object”.
The Higgins Stormchasing posted on their Facebook page that they also believe that the object was a meteor, writing: “It looks like a meteorite has impacted somewhere offshore from the general Gladstone area (based off the fact that no damage reports have come through).
“A bright flash or light has been reported by hundreds of people, this light was seen as far south as Hervey Bay and as far North as Yeppoon with a tremor being felt upon impact over the general Gladstone area and Boyne Island.”
Locals have been posting on social media to try to find out more about the flash, but no authorities have yet confirmed any of the reports.
