Bright green meteor caught on camera in Nelson. Photo / Greg Price
The skies of Nelson were clear enough on Thursday evening for some residents to see a large bright green meteor flash across the sky.
Astronomers say the bright green light indicated it was relatively large and moving very fast which caused the air to ionize and glow like an aurora.
Greg Price in Nelson captured it on his camera that he had pointed south of Richmond, all in the hope of getting a shot of the Southern Lights.
Instead he got the photo of a lifetime.
The meteor was seen from Taranaki to Timaru and travelled over New Zealand at 8.05pm on Thursday.
Price said he was impressed with how it lit up the sky.
He was recording timelapse on his camera for the aurora but instead got the shot of the meteor streaking across the sky.
"It was really impressive how it lit up the sky bright green for 5-10 seconds. The hills in the foreground are only 5km south of my house and the meteor was obviously a lot further south than that so it hasn't illuminated the hills near me."
Price used a Nikon Z7, with a Samyang XP 14mm F2.4 lens and Auto ISO of 2800.
Price said he was using auto white balance and the landscape profile with contrast +1 and saturation +3 so the colours are boosted but the tint and hue should be accurate.
Residents further south across Canterbury from Westlake, Hornby, and also in Westport felt and saw the space rock.
West Melton resident Jill says she was sitting on the couch when she spotted a bright light through the skylights.
She says she noticed what looked like the size of a basketball of bright white light shoot past the windows, and about five minutes later she heard a big boom.
The Greater Hornby Residents Association Facebook page says one resident on Shands Rd saw colours of red, white and orange in the sky.
"There was a massive boom in Halswell that shook our house. Thought it was an explosion," one person commented.
The man is now in a critical but stable condition in hospital.