Amazing footage shows meteor lighting up skies in Melbourne, Australia

A meteor lit up the skies in Australia on Tuesday night, stunning residents.

Residents of Adelaide and Melbourne witnessed the night sky illuminated with light just after 11pm on Tuesday as the meteor, believed to be the size of a marble, burned up after entering the atmosphere.

Amazing videos and pictures emerged of the rare spectacle, with the Astronomical Society Australia telling local media that it was a piece of “space dust” about the size of a marble that entered the atmosphere and witnesses saw its greenish hue before it burned up with a dome of orange.

Despite the claims of its estimated size, Dr Steve Chesley from NASA said this particular meteor was pretty small by their standards.

He told ABC Radio Adelaide: “When these things hit the atmosphere going so fast, the pressure from these hypersonic entries basically causes them to shatter and fragment.”

Police received reports from residents of a meteorite sighting (ABC)

Dramatic footage of meteroid burning through sky over Australia (ABC)

One Twitter user who witnessed the meteor said: “Just saw what must have been a meteor on the SW horizon from northern Victoria. Lit up half the sky and the flash would have been the size of the moon #meteor #nightsky”

Another added: “Many reports from throughout Victoria of a very bright meteor sighting low in SW sky. 

“A respected ASV member saw it and we can now correct and refine the time at 11:12pm last night. 

“Disregard earlier time. Had a greenish hue and finished with an slightly orange dome glow.”