Really Fast Fireball Caught on Dashcam In North Perth, Australia

This meteorite was captured on dashcam by Nine News cameraman, Gerard Price. The vision was shot at the junction of Charles Street and Scarborough beach road in North Perth last week.

Professor Phil Bland from Curtin University’s Department of Applied Geology said it was likely a “pretty big chunk of meteorite came down through the atmosphere, a little one you just don’t notice.”

“They hit the top of our atmosphere about 20km/second, so really fast, and I say big because for it to be this bright in the daylight to attract people’s attention like that, is must have been big.

Prof. Bland said it was rare for such a big chunk of rock to come to Earth. “They happen randomly throughout the year, they don’t match up with meteor showers or the tail of comet or something like that,” he said.

He said it was possible it has come to land because it appeared to be a big enough fireball for rock to not burn away.

However Prof. Bland said it would be difficult to track. “The light from a fireball, even a really big one, doesn’t get down lower than maybe 15km above the Earth and the fireball can often be separate from seeing the rock and it can land up to two minutes after the fireball’s gone out.