Fireball Stuns Sky Watchers

From AAP

(AEST) A bright flash in the sky captivated scores of people across Western Australia last night, who witnessed what may have been dust shed by a comet thousands of years ago.

Perth Observatory astronomer Jamie Biggs said the event was seen as far north as Dandaragan, 170 kilometres north of Perth, and as far south as Albany, 410 kilometres south of Perth.

Dr Biggs said the specific incident was what's called a fireball - a bright shooting star.

"We're not sure, but there is a meteor stream that the earth has just started passing through last night, and this is the dust and junk that has been shed by a comet, possibly thousands of years ago," Dr Biggs said.

"We're ploughing through what's left of its orbit, and so we get hit by all this dust so we get an increase in meteor activity and it looks like it's from one point in the sky.

"This object may have been one of those but it's hard to know.

"It was a lot brighter than what these things normally are."

About 100 people rang the Perth Observatory to report the event.