WASHINGTON: A burning meteor has flashed over parts of Western Australia, but it has not yet been confirmed the rock landed anywhere.
Dozens of people spotted the bright, white light speeding across the Perth and South West skies on Monday morning, sparking a flurry of social media posts and talkback radio calls.
A Gidgegannup woman, who referred to herself simply as Angela, told ABC radio she believed a meteorite had landed in her paddock, but could not find it.
Drivers also captured images of the white flash on their dash cameras and fireball became a trending topic on Twitter in WA.
Jay Ridgewell, from the Curtin University research group Fireballs In The Sky, told AAP if the rock did land on Earth, it would be a meteorite and geologists would be eager to study it.
“Thousands of meteors fall from the sky every year, but it’s not as common to see them in such a populated area,” she said.
Professor of Planetary Sciences Phil Bland told AAP researchers were working to figure out how fast the meteor was travelling to learn if it had burnt out or had landed somewhere.
He said if it was travelling at about 5km/sec then geologists would be able to examine its remains.
Prof Bland said the rock would be cold if it had hit Earth and was not likely to have left a large crater.
“If we could get our hands on it, it would be so great,” he said.
Prof Bland said most meteorites were older than the Earth, so such a discovery would be significant for scientists.
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