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Bright Meteor Fireball Over Central Victoria Prompts Searches for Fallen Fragments

Preliminary trajectory reduction has identified a likely fall zone northeast of Maryborough, prompting teams to conduct systematic searches.

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Overview

  • Dashcam, CCTV and dozens of eyewitness videos captured a green-blue fireball streaking across central Victoria around 7:30 pm local time and rattling homes with sonic booms.
  • Astronomers confirmed the event as a sporadic meteor rather than space junk or Perseid debris, noting its high speed and color signatures of iron and nickel.
  • Geoscience Australia logged thousands of felt reports of ground shaking but recorded no seismic activity associated with the fireball.
  • Analysis by the Ballarat Observatory and networks like Australian Meteor Reports triangulated a probable meteorite fall area northeast of Maryborough.
  • Amateur and professional teams including the Desert Fireball Network have begun combing the identified region for fragments, though none have been verified.