'Big flaming ball' thought to be a meteor sighted over Auckland

A sighting of a meteorite has been reported over Auckland tonight. Photo / File

A sighting of a meteor has been reported over Auckland, with one woman witnessing a "big flaming ball" shooting over the city.

Jamie Creedon said she was outside talking to a friend when she witnessed what she believes to be a meteor over Albany, in north Auckland.

"I have never seen anything like it. I thought 'oh a shooting star' but it was massive and I could hear the whirr sound.

"It then disappeared completely. I actually thought I was going crazy."

However Creedon is not alone, with several other people reporting the sighting on social media, some from Whangarei to Tauranga and everywhere in between.

One person said, "Just saw a big fat meteorite at 6.30pm travelling from NW to SE over South West Auckland."

Another wrote, "Anyone else just see the meteorite flying low over Auckland just now?"

Stardome Observatory in Auckland also confirmed it had received several reports of the sighting as well, but were not lucky enough to see it themselves.

"Reports suggest it was unusually low in the sky, which is certainly possible if it was taking longer to burn out," a spokesman said.

A reader in Katikati said they watched it from their spa pool.

"We saw it going NE to SW. It was really bright and we saw it for at least six to eight seconds, it was white. It was spectacular."

Another reader said she saw it about 6.30pm from Richmond Rd,

"I thought it was a shooting star but it was far too close and burned in the sky for far too long. I watched it pass through the sky for a good five seconds before it disappeared behind a tree. Incredible! I wondered what on earth I'd seen!"

A family walking to dinner in Te Atatu Peninsula said they thought at first it was an amateur rocket gone wrong.

"It was flying just above the roof tops, low and across us. You could hear it burning and then it went out just a couple of houses away from us. Maybe it completely burnt up because we didn't hear it hit anything and it was only a small ball of fire by the time it passed us."