Each day 200 tonnes of meteor fragments fall to the Earth.
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On Friday, one particular piece caught the attention of many keen-eyed Canberrans as it lit up the night sky and treated them to a different sort of Christmas light show.
While the fragment was moving too quickly to get a high-quality image, the cameras at Mt Stromlo Observatory did capture a somewhat blurry picture of the fragment emitting a bright blue-green light.
Astronomer at Mt Stromlo Brad Tucker said the fragment was likely only 10 to 25 centimetres in diameter. However due to it travelling at an estimated speed of between 80,000 to 120,000 kilometres per hour it created a sonic boom that was heard and felt by people below.
The blue-green light trail behind the meteor suggests the presence of iron and the yellow light indicates sodium.
Mr Tucker likened the difference between Friday's meteor and a regular shooting star as similar to the difference between diving into a swimming pool or doing a belly flop. It all depends on how the fragment meets the Earth's atmosphere.
A meteor event like Friday's would happen daily on the Earth by Mr Tucker's estimation, and Canberra and the region usually experiences something similar roughly once per year.
Conversation about the meteor turned to Facebook with people as far as Yass, Boorowa and Tumut reporting being able to see the event. Mr Tucker said it would have spanned anywhere between 100 and 250 kilometres.
He said it was a good visual reminder there are thousands of tonnes of space material flying around the Earth with teams all over the world tracking such material in case larger objects ever posed a threat to populated areas.
The Mt Stromlo Observatory is currently partnering with the ANU School of Earth Sciences to place more cameras in the region to improve our capacity to monitor asteroid activity.
