Fireball meteor lights up Canterbury skies, then falls into the sea

Monday, 27 July 2026

A fireball meteor lit up Canterbury skies on Sunday evening, with a number of eyewitnesses reporting the sighting across the South Island.

The meteor was spotted at 5.51pm, with dashcam footage captured by a driver travelling along Old West Coast Rd towards Christchurch showing the object streaking across the sky.

Fireballs Aotearoa’s Steve Wynn-Harris said the fireball appeared to have fallen east of Christchurch, likely out to sea off the Canterbury coast.

“If it did result in a meteorite, it will now be at the bottom of the ocean,” Wynn-Harris said.

The organisation is calling on anyone with east-facing security cameras, dashcams or weather cameras in Canterbury to check their footage between 5.50pm and 5.52pm and report any sightings to FireballsAotearoa@gmail.com.

A fireball is a large meteor – also known as a shooting star – and New Zealand typically sees three to four large enough to drop a meteorite onto the ground each year.

It’s not the first time Canterbury skies have produced an exciting find, Wynn-Harris said.

In March 2024, a fireball near Takapō/Tekapo led to a search that turned up a meteorite within 30 minutes – confirmed as New Zealand’s 10th recognised meteorite and now on display at Tūhura Otago Museum.