Fireballs Aotearoa aims to recover freshly-fallen meteorites in Aotearoa New Zealand, learn about meteor showers, and engage the public in the night sky.
New Zealand
Joined February 2022
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"Wow! I've seen a fireball above NZ. Who should I tell?" Report it at fireballs.nz/. We collate views, calculate its trajectory and assess whether any #nzmeteorites might have fallen.
Friday's daylight #fireball over the sea near Napier - blink and you'll miss it! But six people reported it to us. It fell at 13:45:10 NZDT and was heading for the sea. Images from GMN camera NZ005R, part of the Fireballs Aotearoa network.
Our friends at @geonet wrote this great piece about detecting fireballs in New Zealand. This July #fireball was detected by #Geonet and dropped a #meteorite near Masterton. NZ's 11th! geonet.org.nz/news/4quoxktkj…
Daytime #fireball alert! If you had a security camera pointing toward the yellow circle yesterday, you might have recorded this bright meteor.
Timing was 1:45pm to 1:47 pm NZ time on Friday 2 October 2026. Please let us know! Your video might help us find a #meteorite.
The "Nininger Paradox" - a fireball that looks like it landed "just behind that hedge" was probably very distant, way over the horizon. We've explained it so many times, we finally gave it its own webpage! fireballs.nz/the-nininger-pa…
Bright Fireball Lights up Bay of Plenty Skies - great reporting from 1XX 1xx.co.nz/news/regional-news…
The Ruamāhanga #meteorite has landed! On the 28th of July 2026 at 10.26 pm, a #fireball was seen across the lower North Island. Our searchers were soon in the fields around Masterton and almost immediately found fragments of NZ's 12th confirmed meteorite. #nzmeteorites
Close-up views of New Zealand's latest #meteorite - found by a search party today after falling last Wednesday 13th.
We're so happy to have found this rock - NZ's tenth #meteorite and our first camera-assisted find stuff.co.nz/nz-news/35022074…
Finding a #meteorite in #LOTR country - we were looking for one precious thing in the landscape where the #LOTR films were made two decades ago: rnz.co.nz/news/national/5123…
We found a #meteorite! Read about it here (parental advisory on antipodean vernacular): rnz.co.nz/news/national/5123…
Fireballs Aotearoa retweeted
The @FireballsNZ and #globalmeteornetwork cameras have detected meteors from a new #meteor shower produced by #comet 46P/Wirtanen! Although it had low activity (ZHR <= 5), it occurred exactly where and when it was predicted.
ALT New shower = oWir2023
Peter McKellar caught this "Earthgrazer" #meteor off the coast near Mt Maunganui at 2:10 am last night. 100km up and moving at 70km/sec, it would have been a real sight from the beach.
If you want to catch #meteors like this, please join Fireballs Aotearoa by searching for our website and clicking on "get a camera".
"Earthgrazers" are meteors that almost miss the Earth - they hit the top of the atmosphere, get thoroughly toasted then continue back out into space. No #meteorites from this one, it's back out there in an altered orbit.
Fireballs Aotearoa retweeted
An amazing display of sprites captured last night over the #Fiordland National Park in #NewZealand.
@FireballsNZ #globalmeteornetwork #redsprites #tle #lightning #timelapse
Credit: Jim Cheetham
Fireballs Aotearoa retweeted
Meteor shower season is here! The next few weeks are the best time of year to be observing #meteors (unless you like the cold during the Geminids).
Here is a night of detections from a #globalmeteornetwork camera in #NewZealand. Via @FireballsNZ Credit: Craig Young
🔥#Otago/#Southland Fireball Update🔥
1/4 Data for the #fireball at 20:39 24-07-23 is in:
The ☄small ~100gm rock ☄was first detected at 55km above Earth's surface travelling at 20km/s! It was captured through to 31km at 5km/s.
3/4 The fireball's trajectory indicates it originated from the asteroid belt, beyond the orbit of Mars, and was likely a remnant of the early solar system.
Image - Green (orbital trajectory), red (Mars), brown (Jupiter).
4/4 Calculations by Jesse Stayte and James Scott.
Report🔥 fireballs🔥 here: fireballs.nz