Residents in Victoria, Australia, were startled on Sunday evening when a bright meteor streaked across the sky, producing a loud sonic boom that rattled houses. The event occurred around 7:30 pm local time, with sightings reported in Ballarat and Bendigo.
Social media footage captured the space rock burning brightly, and community Facebook pages were flooded with reports of a booming sound about a minute after the fireball was seen. One resident wrote, 'Bendigo just got hit by a meteor! Felt all over Bendigo! Shook our house. BOOM.'
The International Meteor Organisation confirmed the event, stating, 'A very bright and slow fireball was observed and video recorded over Victoria, August 10, 9:34 UT.' Geoscience Australia reported receiving multiple felt reports from Bendigo but ruled out any seismic activity.
Experts believe fragments of the meteor likely reached the ground. Associate professor Michael Brown from Monash University said, '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.' The Ballarat municipality observatory noted a fall site northeast of Maryborough, with a final visual height of 9 km.
Although the sighting coincided with the Perseids meteor shower, astronomers ruled out any connection. Perry Vlahos explained that the radiant point of the Perseids never rises above the horizon at Victoria's latitude, making this fireball unrelated.
