A spectacular fireball lit up the skies over Taranaki overnight.
Footage of the meteor, captured in South Taranaki's Kaponga area shortly before 11pm, showed it streaking across the night sky.
A huge flash of light could be seen as the object travelled over Taranaki Maunga before dimming out.
"The mountain made for a stunning backdrop," said Andy Banks, who captured the footage.
The fireball likely dropped meteorites as it made its way towards Earth. (Ross Wickham, Fireballs Aotearoa) (Source: Supplied)
Did you witness or capture footage of the meteor? Email it to news@tvnz.co.nz
Steve Wyn-Harris, director of Fireballs Aotearoa, the public face of a citizen camera network monitoring meteors, described the meteor as a "major fireball".
He told 1News it was seen by "many" across the North Island and the top of the South Island.
"Our camera network has many of our cameras capturing the event, and the flash far outshone the nearly full moon that was in the sky at the same time out in the West."
He said it likely entered the atmosphere over the sea off the Taranaki coast and "likely dropped meteorites", but the group was not planning a search.
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