“Bloody ripper of a meteor” lights up Perth skies
A few lucky Western Australians have witnessed the moment a bright green meteor flashed brightly across the state's South West.
The meteor was the size of a cricket ball and had a 200-kilometre-long tail, which was first spotted at around 8.50pm on Wednesday after entering the atmosphere over Pemberton.
The rare spectacle, which only happens around three times a year, lasted about five seconds and travelled at a speed of 30 km/h before the mix of iron, rock and ice dissolved over the Southern Ocean.
“Iron meteors give off that beautiful green glow,” Perth Observatory spokesperson Matt Woods told 7NEWS.
Experts also said that this was triggered by the outer layer of the meteor melting because of intense friction.
The observatory said that the meteor had set off a flood of messages, emails and calls from the people that witnessed the natural phenomenon.
“That was a bloody ripper of a meteor tonight,” they posted on their Facebook page.
One witness said that you had to see it with your own eyes to fully appreciate its beauty.
“I will say it was way better in person. It looked almost rainbow-coloured. Just spectacular,” commented one person.
“Did anyone just see a bright streak of light shooting from the sky? It was too bright to be a shooting star,” another person shared on social media.
“It was massive and extremely bright.”
Image: 7NEWS