Suspected meteor rattles N.Zealand's South Island

(Reuters) - A suspected exploding meteor plummeted to earth over New Zealand on Tuesday, leaving a long white trail and causing a sonic boom that rattled windows across the Pacific nation's South Island.

The boom was reported throughout the Canterbury [Christchurch] region on the east coast, prompting a flood of calls to emergency services.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a bright white trail in the sky with pieces breaking off. "We witnessed part of an object just breaking up ... it was bright and silver and it had purple and red flames and it landed in a paddock," a woman named Rae told Radio New Zealand. There were no reports of any debris being found.

Christchurch resident Robin Clements said he heard a bang and thought it was an earthquake.
"It was short and sharp and like an explosion, it could have been an earthquake, but we waited for the rumble and nothing happened," he told Reuters.

The Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences said none of its instruments had registered any shocks. The Royal New Zealand Air Force said none of its planes was fast enough to break the sound barrier. Scientists said the object was probably no bigger than a basketball.

"Earth is being hit by particles, little bits of early solar system, all the time or it might be a piece of space junk like old satellites," said Jenny McCormick of the Auckland-based Stardome Observatory. "Normally it happens at night and we call them a shooting star."

From Radio Live (NZ):
Reports of flying object in Canterbury 12-Sep-2006 16:20
Eyewitness reports are suggesting a meteorite has landed outside of Christchurch.
What's been described as a sonic bomb was heard throught Canterbury just after three this afternoon.

A GNS Science spokeswoman says something has hit the ground very hard, and she's ruled out an earthquake. A Rangiora resident saw something passing over his head. He said it left a white smoke trail and burned out above them, before disappearing.