Raw video: Meteor lights up the night sky above Alice Springs, Australia
Police security camera footage captures the moment a green fireball streaks across the sky.
Police in Australia have captured stunning footage of a meteor lighting up the night sky.
Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services posted the CCTV footage on Facebook on May 19.
“Whoa! Police received reports of a large ‘fireball’ flying across the sky between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek just after midnight,” officials wrote. “Turns out, Earth is currently moving through the tail of Halley’s Comet and it was a meteor shower.”
AN ASTEROID TURNED INTO A BLAZING FIREBALL OVER AFRICA LAST WEEKEND
There have been a number of meteor reports across Australia in recent days. News.com.au, for example, reports that a “fireball” was spotted over Victoria and South Australia.
A small chunk of an asteroid or comet is also known as a meteoroid. When it enters Earth's atmosphere, it becomes a meteor or fireball or shooting star. The pieces of rock that hit the ground, valuable to collectors, are meteorites.
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Last year a meteor made headlines when it flashed across the sky in Michigan. The blazing fireball sent meteorite hunters scrambling to find fragments of the rare space rock.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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