A Cairns astronomer and university professor on the hunt for a fallen meteor say it’s likely landed in a remote area of Far North Queensland.
Photographer Steve Cook captured the moment an asteroid lit up the skies over Wangetti Beach while on a night shooting class with students on Saturday night. Video: Steve Cooke Photography.
Cr Pickering says he does not know more than anyone else, but “night turned to day,” when the meteor descended on Saturday night, he said.
“It was very bright and then a few moments later there was a sonic boom and it rattled all the houses here.
“I suspect there’ll be people coming to try and find it but we can’t pinpoint it to any more than west of Croydon township.”
He said he would try and organise a helicopter to go out and have a look around, between the town of Croydon and the closest house, 40km distant.
“I might get a helicopter up in that area to see if they can see anything, but they reckon you wouldn’t be able to see much, it could have been half a metre to a metre.”
Cairns Airport shared footage of an asteroid lighting up Far North Queensland skies on Saturday night. The asteroid is believed to have landed near Croydon. Picture: Cairns Airport
Kirsty Connery from Scotland works at the Croydon Club Hotel, the local watering hole, and she said it was like massive fog lights had turned on.
“It was around half nine, quarter to 10,” she said.
“I did hear a big bang. A couple of people in a camper van said they felt the vans move.”
Space experts say it’s likely the meteorite that lit up Queensland skies on Saturday night, peppered someone’s paddock in Croydon as the search heats up.
Cairns astronomer Ian Maclean said the non hazardous meteorite had likely landed between Croydon and Normanton, with Mr Maclean believing it was closer to Croydon.
“Due to the reports I’ve had from people in Croydon who felt and heard the meteorite, I have reason to believe it landed closer to Croydon,” Mr Maclean said.
Mr Maclean said the impact which sent shockwaves through the small community, likely left fragments in a someone’s paddock.
“It could’ve ended up on the coast or in the Gulf but all signs indicate it was over land. It’s likely someone’s cattle station got peppered.
“It would be quite significant to find them at all as they can burn up in the atmosphere,” he said.”
Dashcam footage of meteor that lit up night sky and landed between Croydon and Normanton on Saturday night
Leading space researcher and Griffith University Professor Paulo De Souza said people had just started for fragments of the meteorite that lit up the skies.
If found, the meteorite could be named after the town or area it was located, in this case Croydon or Cairns.
Professor De Souza said the exact location of impact would be difficult to find as the meteorite likely exploded into little fragments on impact.
“Meteorites like this, when they fall, many things can happen. Some will burn or disintegrate in the atmosphere when they fall.
“The one that fell around Cairns might potentially be found in pieces because it was it’s not big enough to burn on impact but not small enough to disintegrate so it’s found a sweet spot here,” Professor De Souza said.
With all the new-found interest regarding the surprising discovery, Prof De Souza said Cairns and the Far North should expect a spike in tourism as science sleuths arrive to search for fragments.
Photographer Steve Cook captured the moment an asteroid lit up the skies over Wangetti Beach while on a night shooting class with students on Saturday night. Picture: Steve Cooke Photography.
“Some people sell pieces of meteorite online. We would encourage anyone who finds a fragment to report it to the local university so they can determine the composition,” he said.
Meteorites of any size, are an important part of scientific discovery as they are made up of different metallic compositions that can give scientists an insight into the planets and space movements outside of earth.
“Meteorites bring information on where they came from. We have pieces of the rock that came from an asteroid hitting the surface of the moon and sent rocks through space.
“Those rocks are like a DNA analysis that we can compare with other rocks to see if they’re from the moon or Mars or somewhere else,” Prof De Souza said.
While a meteorite sighting of this calibre was rare, Prof De Souza said meteorite sightings were generally common if one was patient enough to look.
“Everyday a lot of meteorites fall but most of them will just be shooting stars and they usually all come at once,” he said.
“Every year hundreds of thousands of meteorites have been reported but finding them is really special. The more we find, the more we learn about our own universe. That is a key for us to understand the evolution of our solar system.”
Mayor Pickering was a little more down to earth.
“How come there’s not better warnings for these sort of things?” he mused.
“It shouldn’t have got this close. They say it was travelling at 150,000 something km/hr. It was the main topic in town.
“The cost of living and fuel prices have gone out the window today.”
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