Queensland sky lit up by plummeting meteor

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/23/queensland-sky-lit-up-by-plummeting-meteor

Queensland sky lit up by plummeting meteor

Thousands of south-east Queenslanders saw or heard the meteor, which struck just after 10pm

Australian Associated Pres

Sun 23 Jun 2019 03.38 BST

Craig Turton wasn’t expecting to capture a plummeting meteor when he ventured to a quiet dam north of Brisbane with his cameras on Saturday night.

The photographer had planned to use the clear, crisp evening to take landscapes of the stars reflecting off North Pine Dam. But, during a 15-second exposure facing the south-west, he saw a great flash.

“I saw it come right down in the sky, so I just hoped while the exposure was going that I actually captured it,” he said.

“I got the bottom two-thirds of the meteor in the picture … it was the right place, right time.”

Thousands of south-east Queenslanders saw or heard the meteor, which struck just after 10pm.

People on social media reported seeing the flash, or feeling their homes rumble or shake from its impact, particularly north and west of Brisbane.

The meteor is likely due to the “Taurid Swarm”, a cloud of debris left over from a massive comet that is thought to have been responsible for cataclysmic collisions in the past, such as the notorious Tunguska event in Russia.
(snip)