A bright streak of light captured the attention of residents in eastern Victoria on Sunday afternoon, leading to speculation about a meteor sighting. The event occurred just after 4:30 p.m. and has been described by experts as unusual.

Rachel Kirby, a planetary geologist at Monash University, stated that the investigation is ongoing. However, she expressed confidence that the object was a meteor rather than space debris. "The speed at which it's moving is too fast for space junk," Dr. Kirby said. "And the fact that you saw it during the day suggests it's actually quite a large object."

Witness Sarah Devine, who lives in Golden Beach, was enjoying the warm weather on her deck when she noticed the bright light. "It was like it was on fire," she recalled. Devine and her husband were startled by the sight and the accompanying sound. "We just saw something flashing. It kind of came across the sky and straight down, and it left like a vapor trail … we were like — what was that?"

About a minute later, they heard a sonic boom. "We were running around the house looking at the sky, thinking, what on earth was that? Are we under attack?" she said. Devine described the day as beautiful and felt fortunate to witness such an unusual event.

Megan Roberts from Maffra also reported seeing a meteor while driving near Stratford, north of Sale. "It was slower than a shooting star," she said. "It looked a bit like a ball of fire. I thought it was like what a firework looks like when it goes off into the air, but it was going across the sky instead." Roberts noted that this was not her first encounter with a suspected meteor, having seen a similar green light in the past.

Reports of the meteor sighting extended beyond Victoria, with hundreds of people in New South Wales also claiming to have seen the large object. There is speculation that it may have landed near the Snowy Mountains. Dr. Kirby emphasized the rarity of such events, stating, "This isn't a normal thing. It might seem like that in Victoria because we've had a couple of quite large events recently. It's actually fairly rare to get these large meteors that have that sonic boom."

Monash University is coordinating with various teams to further investigate the trajectory of the meteor and its potential impact. The excitement surrounding the sighting reflects a growing interest in meteoric events in the region.