New Zealand meteor

Sound like quite a spectacular daytime fireball; a chunk of it may have been found, too.

I rather like The Register's (slight) embellishment:

The meteor broke the sound barrier during its rapid descent, leaving a "long white trail" as it disintegrated in "purple and red flames", as one eyewitness recalled. . .

That the object was probably a meteor was confirmed by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, which said "none of its instruments had registered any shocks". The NZ Air Force rather sadly added that "none of its planes was fast enough to break the sound barrier".

Posted by David on September 13, 2006 1:40 PM