Fragments of a meteor that soared over Canberra Wednesday night could be lying somewhere near the New South Wales and Victorian border, but experts said it was unlikely it caused damage.
A number of Canberrans reported seeing the bright green fireball flying over the city about 6.45pm on Wednesday.
ANU Astrophysicist Brad Tucker said the meteor likely entered the atmosphere over the NSW Central Coast and travelled over Sydney, west of Canberra, before exploding in a "sonic boom" somewhere near the Victorian and NSW border.
"This rock comes in, when you're seeing that bright fireball that's the rock in the Earth's atmosphere essentially burning up," he said.
"It gets super hot, starts to melt and at some point it explodes in fragments."
He said the meteor would have been up to one metre in size and didn't pose a threat.
"There is likely somewhere from Jindabyne down to the border with a few space rocks in someone's backyard or paddock right now, but it wouldn't have created a crater," he said.
"This thing shatters and a few bits rain down."
Dr Tucker said the fireball got its bright green and blue colour from iron and nickle burning up as it entered Earth's atmosphere.
He said due to the size of the rock, it was unlikely to have caused much damage.
"200 tonnes of rock hit the earth everyday but most of the earth is uninhabited, if you think about oceans and Antarctica," he said.
"They may also happen during the day time, something like this you may not even see during the daytime because it wouldn't be big enough to see, this one probably we would have.
"We're seeing a lot more now because people have dashcams and footage, as an easy way of tracking it."
