Lights Over Tasmania
A mystery trail of blazing light soared
through the sky across Tasmania last night.
Speculation was rife the light show was direct from outer space - possibly
space junk re-entering the Earth's orbit or a giant shooting star.
Hobart and Launceston airport towers both witnessed the spectacle.
Tasmania Police received calls from witnesses across the state who thought
they had seen multi-coloured distress flares.
Acting Sergeant Karina Parker said the reports had been baffling
initially, since there was no sign of any boats in distress.
"Each of the callers rang in reporting a flare of a different colour. It
was obviously absolutely spectacular," she said.
The calls lit up the police switchboard at 8.05pm.
"We've had calls from Cambridge, Huonville and north of the state as
well," she said.
Police were later in contact with Hobart and Launceston airports, which
both saw the lights and believed they looked more like an enormous
shooting star.
"It appears it was a giant shooting star which fell out of the sky and
exploded into all different colours," Acting Sergeant Parker said.
Night workers at Launceston Airport said it was the biggest shooting star
in memory.
However, there was also speculation the light display could have been a
meteor, a satellite burning up or other space junk.
An airport worker said an incoming pilot also witnessed the flash of light
and reported seeing a "re-entry", which is industry jargon for space junk
returning to earth.
He said the light was definitely not an aurora australis, which were
frequent at this time of year.
However, there were reports in other parts of southern Tasmania of
southern lights, aurora australis. "It looked to me like a shooting star -
the biggest I've ever seen," he said.
Scientists estimate more than 8000 pieces of space hardware, or space
junk, are orbiting Earth.