‘Sonic boom': Huge meteor lights up Victorian skies
Social media was flooded with reports from residents in Victoria's west between Ballarat and Bendigo after a large fireball in the sky before hearing a thunderous bang as it crashed to earth.
A Melbourne resident who was driving on the Monash Fwy said they thought the meteor was 'going to hit the road'.
On Bendigo and Ballarat community Facebook pages, residents reported feeling a 'sonic boom' that 'shook the whole house'.
Others claimed the impact of the meteor was so intense they thought it was a 'small earthquake'.
'Saw it in Ballarat,' a witness wrote online.
'It was so bright, an orange glow then faded to nothing, looked like it was going so fast!'
While it is yet to be confirmed, the meteor is likely unrelated to the Perseid meteor shower, which is anticipated to light up the skies between July 17 to August 2, with peak activity expected between August 12-13.
Dubbed the 'best meteor shower of the year' by experts, the Perseid meteor shower occurs annually as Earth passes through a trail of space dust left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
However, the best views to catch a glimpse are from the Northern Hemisphere, meaning Australians are likely to miss out on the epic light show.
Originally published as 'Sonic boom': Huge meteor lights up Victorian skies
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
10 hours ago
- The Age
‘Quite exciting': Meteor flash across Victoria's sky sparks hunt for space rocks
'I normally go for a walk down that way every day anyway so it was nothing out of the ordinary. I'm a keen birder so it just meant looking down instead of looking up.' Saskia Reus-Smit, who lives in Fryerstown about 15 minutes from Castlemaine, was stargazing about 7.30pm on Sunday when she realised there was a strong wash of light coming from behind her – much too big to be car headlights, which her neighbours hardly see anyway. 'There are no streetlights or shops or anything [here], so the night sky is always very dark – it's a star watcher's dream,' Reus-Smit said. 'I stepped out of the carport, three steps, and turned my head just as this meteor flew overhead. 'I do a lot of stargazing, although I'm no expert. This was amazing. It was huge. If you think about four full moons joined together. Think about that in your sky above your head, lower than an aircraft.' Reus-Smit said she could see the meteor's shape, which she described as like a 'giant piece of volcanic porous rock', with red and orange burning craters at its centre and black formations. 'It passed across, and went over the hill,' she said. 'It would have been a time delay of less than a minute. 'This to me sounded more like a massive boom combined with impact.' Associate professor Michael Brown from Monash University's school of physics and astronomy said the loud noise heard by those nearby was likely a sonic boom. Loading 'That is unusual and actually quite exciting … if those reports are accurate, probably what they were hearing was a sonic boom from the meteor,' Brown said on Sunday night. 'To be able to hear the sonic boom loudly from the ground suggests that quite a big chunk of the meteor was pretty close to the ground. And that possibly means there's chunks of the meteorite actually made it down to the ground and, optimistically, might be found. 'They're not dangerous ... there's a lot of rocks out there in rural Victoria, so trying to identify a meteor amongst them can be pretty tricky.' Brown recalled a Canadian family's house camera capturing a meteorite landing near the front door last year. It was the first time such an event was caught on camera. 'If you have a look at that video, it's not exactly an asteroid disaster movie, it's much more of a curiosity,' Brown said. The Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak on Wednesday and Thursday, so astronomers were expecting to see activity in Australian skies. But astronomer Perry Vlahos told this masthead that Sunday night's sighting was not part of any meteor shower such as the Perseids or Alpha Capricornids. 'This would be what's called a 'sporadic meteor', which refers to all meteors we see with a non-specific origin,' Vlahos said. 'The reason it's not a Perseid is because the 'radiant' – the point the meteors appear to radiate out from – never rises above the horizon for us at the latitude of Victoria. 'In order for it to be one, it would have to be travelling upward from horizon to zenith ... which is not what was observed.'
7NEWS
15 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Deep dive into loneliness epidemic shows the deadly experience is caused by more than just social isolation
A common but stigmatised experience is having a devastating impact on Australians' bodies. Loneliness is different to being alone — it has to do with our ability to connect — and two in five young Australians are struggling with it daily, according to a new report lifting the lid on loneliness. 'It's experienced in the brain as a physiological stressor, and that impacts our body and our mind,' study author, CEO and scientific chair of Ending Loneliness Together associate professor Michelle Lim told 'It therefore has massive health implications, if we do not actually address loneliness.' The Ending Loneliness Together report published this week for Loneliness Awareness Week, found that one in seven young people have felt 'persistently lonely' over a span of at least two years. Chronic disease, such as heart disease and stroke, diabetes, and dementia have all been linked to loneliness and social isolation, which also negatively impacts behaviour, sleep and life expectancy, according to the Medical Journal of Australia. Loneliness is also closely linked with depression and suicide, and the World Health Organisation estimates loneliness led to 871,000 deaths globally each year from 2014–2019. For Taylor Bradley, the loneliness spurred on by the death of his mother almost took him to that point of no return. 'Even when I was out with friends, it was hard for me to feel that connection,' the 33-year-old from Bondi told A closer look at Bradley's experience revealed to him that his loneliness was stemming from within — he was struggling to accept who he truly was, and was heavily 'masking' as a result. It meant that the connections he was making 'didn't feel real', he said. Lim said that friends, family and community are not enough to bypass loneliness as our relationships need to offer genuine connection. 'All of us have very different and diverse social needs, and live in environments where not everything that we like is offered within our community,' Lim said. Stigma and societal norms For Bradley, getting better acquainted with himself was a major step in his journey out of loneliness — he took up yoga and meditation to disconnect from racing thoughts, and from there was able to address the 'internal wounds' affecting his ability to connect. He later trained as a yoga teacher and co-founded the Connection Hub, a group for men to come together in a safe space that offers not just a refuge from social isolation, but an opportunity to show up authentically and explore their emotional blocks and needs. Half of the Australians surveyed for the loneliness report said they actively conceal their loneliness, sometimes even from themselves. 'They are so ashamed of loneliness' and believe the experience makes them 'a failure' or 'a loser', Lim said. Bradley said that 'the fear of being judged' is also behind much of the loneliness experienced by the men in his wellness group. Big data shows that while men and women typically experience similar levels of loneliness, they have different ways of coping, Lim said. 'Especially when you account for masculinity norms that are rife in our community, it's just less acceptable for men to be vulnerable,' she said. 'We're treating loneliness as a personal matter, when it's a systemic issue as well.' The idea that loneliness is permanent personality trait comes from outdates research from the 80s and 90s, she said. Isolated in the grind The report into loneliness cites the cost of living, and the increasing time demands of necessary employment, as real barriers to meaningful connection. 'All of these things add up, and it changes the way we interact with people,' Lim said. Not having enough time to meet like-minded people, or do the inner work necessary to understanding their authentic social needs, are common issues faced by the Connection Hub members, Bradley said. 'They're so busy at work, trying to get the next promotion at work, or they're really into their training, everyone's got their things ... it's almost like their inner world takes a step back, and there's no time to work on themselves or even process what might be going on for them,' he said. 'I'll do breathwork with the guys to help them get out of their mind and into their bodies, and that's when they often start to feel a little bit more space around them, and a little bit more comfortable,' he said. Now that we exist in the digital age, Lim said it is also important that we don't lose our 'social hygiene'. 'It's needed to build intimate relationships,' she said. 'You do need to respond when someone reaches out to you. If you don't, and you delay it for a certain time, it actually pulls people apart. Reciprocity if very important for social hygiene. It's easily to not have these principles with tech.' Calls for a national strategy Loneliness is a problem all over the world, with one in seven people feeling lonely globally — but the Australian national average is much higher than that, and it is prompting calls for a targeted national strategy. 'It needs to be a cross-sector approach,' Lim said. 'This is not just a health issue, or a social issues, or an economic issue — it's everything. 'What we know is that many societal problems are actually cross-sector issues, but what we're not very good at is working across sectors. 'So it also needs to be very much underpinned by the evidence, because this is an issue rife with misconceptions.' She urged leaders not to trivialise loneliness, noting that major problems such as mental health and poverty are usually always either preceded by, or a consequence of, loneliness. 'It is very much both a root cause, and a consequence, problem,' she said. 'The community is very much ready to act ... but, we really need to all get co-ordinated.' If you need help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
7NEWS
16 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Victorians in awe as bright meteor lights up skies and loud boom shakes homes
A dazzling meteor has lit up Victorian skies, leaving many gazing upwards in awe. Residents across the state, from Ballarat and Bendigo to Melbourne's outer western suburbs, witnessed the unusual sighting about 7.40pm on Sunday. Many took to social media to report hearing a sonic boom while seeing a fireball sweep across the sky, briefly lighting up the night as if it were daylight. Some even said they felt their houses shake. 'It was massive. Was so big and bright and then minutes later after it disappeared I heard a rumble and felt my house shake in Kyneton,' one user posted. 'Yep five seconds of daylight at night with a big boom after it passed over,' another wrote. 'In Bendigo .... The bang was so loud! All the neighbours were outside trying to figure out what happened ...' a local resident shared. 'I felt the boom! Thought my roof was caving in!' commented a witness. 'Just out of Bendigo and it shook the house,' added another. Associate Professor of Astronomy at Monash University, Michael Brown, said the meteor over Central Victoria was unusual. 'It's fairly rare to get a meteor this bright (in) overpopulated areas,' Brown told 'While these meteors are pretty common globally, most of them haul over the ocean or in remote areas. So, to have one in the early evening when people are still up and about, and when lots of people are awake to hear the sonic boom, etcetera, that's a bit more special,' he explained. Brown said regular meteor showers usually occur in the early morning hours, when most people are asleep, and are generally smaller than the one seen on Sunday. The one on Sunday was among the many that enter the atmosphere at random, which is why there was no prediction for it — unlike the upcoming Perseids meteor shower. Brown said this one was unrelated to the Perseids. 'The Perseids meteor shower is one of the brighter meteor showers of the year and one of the more numerous producers — quite a lot of meteors — but it is not visible from southern Australia and is best seen from the Northern Hemisphere,' he said. 'So this meteor was definitely unrelated to the Perseids because it was seen in the wrong part of the world at the wrong time of night.' Loading Instagram Post Monash University planetary geologist Rachel Kirby told the ABC the meteorite is likely to be on the ground west of the Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine area. 'It's absolutely exciting. Even if we don't recover the meteorite, and I really hope we do, witnessing these events and actually having lots of members of the public being able to provide their experiences and their observations is absolutely fantastic,' she said. Brown warned the meteorite is unlikely to be found, so he wouldn't recommend people go searching for it. 'I'd suggest that is something best left to people with expertise, because the meteorites will be very small and could be in an area of land that's very large, rocky and covered in foliage. The chances of finding the meteorite just by going out and having a look are pretty slim,' he said. According to the Royal Observatory, the peak of the Perseids will occur on Tuesday night, but Brown said only a few Australians will be able to see it. Apart from northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia, he doesn't recommend trying to view the Perseids. 'There are other meteor showers at other times of the year that are better to see than the Perseids,' he said.
