Witnesses stunned as small meteor lights up sky over parts of Western Australia

Australia Broadcast Center

11-05-2025

A bright light that lit up the sky over parts of Western Australia was most likely from a small meteor, according to experts.
Many early risers from Perth to the central Wheatbelt took to social media on Sunday morning to report seeing a "fireball" tear through the sky just before 6am.
The appearance of the light was recorded by surveillance cameras operated by the Perth Observatory.
"It looks like it may have entered the atmosphere over the Central Wheatbelt heading from the north to the south around 5:57 am," the observatory's Matthew Woods said.
"It's most likely an iron meteor that's been orbiting within the inner Solar System."
Mr Woods said said the meteor would have heated up because of the friction caused when it came through the atmosphere.
"And that's where you're getting to see that lovely green, orange glow.
"We're very lucky it happened just before sunrise."
He estimated it to be anywhere between the size of a cricket ball to the size of a basketball.
Mr Woods could not confirm if the meteor landed somewhere in WA or it exploded but said experts within a wide network would be looking into it.
He said while the fireball coincided with the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, it was probably not part of the cosmic occurrence due to its size.
"The ETA Aquarians are caused by the tail of Comet Halley, we're talking about the crumbs off the tail, like ice particles and dust particles, they're very, very small.
"It could be one of these things where it's a coincidence."
Curtin University astrophysicist Steven Tingay dismissed claims by some observers that the fireball was the Soviet-era spacecraft, Kosmos 482.
The Kosmos 482 lander made an uncontrolled re-entry over the Indian Ocean on Saturday, but European and US agencies were unsure where it ended up.
Based on social media videos and eyewitness reports, the meteor resembled a brilliant fireball.
"I saw this as I'm driving a truck near Gingin at 5.50am, I was admiring the sky when this ball of light flashed across the sky. Never seen anything like it," wrote Chris Holgate.
Caroline Burton wrote that it was "so incredibly special to witness, I was on my way to work through Scarborough, and it shot past what felt like right in front of me".
"I saw it from Mt Magnet WA at about 6am. It was so big & bright, that I initially thought that it was the moon until it moved," wrote Tracey Johnstone.
"It was huge and burning bright orange red."
Mr Woods said witnessing a fireball in the sky was rare is because the Earth was 70 per cent ocean.
"Earth gets hit by about 100 tonnes of material each year, so most of these really bright ones happen over ocean or while we sleep, so that's why it's good to have night cameras."
He said the event was a nice Mother's Day surprise.