Meteor Plunges Through New Zealand Skies
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer Wellington, New Zealand (AHN) -A sonic boom shook southern New Zealand with hundreds of people calling emergency services regarding the noise and shaking. Scientists said it was due to a small meteor streaking the sky. Allan Gilmore, the resident superintendent of the Mt. John Observatory, told National Radio that the sonic boom meant the meteor was hovering "very low" and would probably be between the size of a baseball and a basketball. Residents said they witnessed a streak of light in the sky that then appeared to fade out. Sonic booms happen when an object travels in the air quicker than the speed of sound at about 700 miles per hour. A Christchurch Fire Communications spokesman said phone calls from residents came in at 2:53pm (0253GMT) reporting windows rattling and the air "shaking." "I saw the end of it, it was quite big and bright and it was just shooting across the sky, then the light went out," Matthew Miller, who was working about 50 miles south of Christchurch, told National Radio. "Then a minute later we heard the boom from it."
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