People in Melbourne were shocked by a sudden bright flash of light and mysterious loud bang on Wednesday night. The strange occurring was captured on CCTV installed and posted on social media by a resident from Doreen who heard the sound while getting out of his car around 9pm. The post soon started gaining traction and a conversation began about the "massive explosion", with some locals claiming it came from a meteorite. The origin of this sound and light is yet to be confirmed.
But social media users remain actively engaged in deciphering what caused the sudden burst of light and sound.
"Ok, massive explosion wasn't how I expected tonight to go!" "What in the world was that?!" said one user. "Our whole house shook," said another, sharing the CCTV footage from a local page to make a guess that it could be a "meteorite".
Ok, massive explosion wasn't how I expected tonight to go!
— Owlbear 💜🦉🐻 won at life today! #PAXAus (@TabletopOwlbear) October 18, 2023
What in the world was that?!
Anyone around #Doreen #Mernda #Explosion know what happened?? #Melbourne
Brad Tucker, an astronomer from the Australian National University, told 3AW that the sound was likely due to the breaking apart of a basketball-size asteroid.
"A lot of people saw flashes associated with this boom, so it's likely that it was a meteor," he said.
"A bit of an asteroid probably broke off, travelled through space... and because it's traveling so fast when it hits the earth's atmosphere, that's the sonic boom people hear, all this energy being released in the sky," the astronomer added.
Another clip pic.twitter.com/bW9h40hVcN
— 𝗥𝗘𝗕𝗭 (@onlyrebz) October 18, 2023
Mr Tucker also said that it is not unusual for residents in a part of a city to have seen the asteroid.
"Sometimes they are localised, it depends on the size," he said.
Fragments of the asteroid would have either burned up as they entered the atmosphere or made it down to Earth.
The astronomer said the smaller the asteroid, the harder it is to detect.
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