Eyewitnesses report seeing the trails of a bright meteor over central New Zealand. There have been a large number of reports from the major cities of Wellington and Christchurch.

This is probably one of the brightest among a series of such meteors, part of a meteor shower.
WeatherWatch.co.nz has been receiving a huge number of hits following this event. Eyewitnesses have been sending in photos to the site. We host a couple of them below, both taken from weatherwatch.co.nz gallery

Meteor spotted over New Zealand.

A close-up of the trails of the meteor

The exact reason for the meteor hasn’t been established. There hasn’t been any reports of any meteor actually hitting the earth, and neither has there been any news of panic from the public in general.

Here’s a video of the event: