What was that???

[Soulfish (Chelle)]

We are in the Flinders Ranges in SA and saw the most amazing site last night. It appeared to be a shooting star but then almost looked to explode further on it's path. It was spectacular!! Did anyone else see this? If so, what was it?

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

I didn't see it, but certainly sounds like a meteor.

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by Soulfish

We are in the Flinders Ranges in SA and saw the most amazing site last night. It appeared to be a shooting star but then almost looked to explode further on it's path. It was spectacular!! Did anyone else see this? If so, what was it?

Chelli and
What you saw was probably a Meteor, sometimes given the name Bolide depending on it's size and other factors.
Shooting stars are small pieces of cometary or asteroid origin which burn up in the atmosphere.
They travel between 20 too 70 kilometers per second and burn up at about 60 kilometers in altitude.
Well done on your meteor spotting.
It could have also been space junk reentering the atmosphere.
Cheers

[chiaroscuro (Luke)]

I was observing about a week ago in Kangaroo Valley, looking south (in one of my ongoing searches for the SCP, but that's another story), when a light lit up the yard around me. I thought is was a neighbours car lights, so I looked around and saw a meteorite which was initially burning orange/yellow, but then blue/green before disintegrating. It was spectacular, lasting about 2-3 seconds, and obviously very close.
I've only ever seen a similar thing once before - driving past Lake George outside the ACT. It was about 1 am, and Lake George is a spooky place even by day - but out over the dry lake-bed, I saw a shower of meteorites burn up. Beautiful, but one of those slightly unnerving experiences where you dont really know what you've seen until you sit and think about it.