Meteor Darting Through the Australian Sky Looks Like a Straight-Up Alien Invasion

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The sky over Perth, Australia erupted up in a momentary flash of light on Tuesday night ,when a meteor whizzed by the Earth. The sight was gorgeous and chaotic, but more than a few witnesses interpreted the event as an alien invasion, reports Mashable. After all, what is a wayward space rock if not a dark omen

Luckily, no such invasion occurred, but plenty of CCTV and dash cam footage shows just how intensely the meteor screamed through the sky. 

The meteor was flying at an estimated 3,100mph, unleashing a sonic boom, according to a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Perth residents, in addition to many people residing outside Perth city limits, reported hearing a loud bang as the fireball darted through Earth's orbit.

"We heard the boom, we saw the light, we just thought it was lightning to start with, but the boom that came after it was definitely not thunder," Robyn Garratt told the ABC.

Now, a search is underway, looking to find exactly where the space rock made landfall. Professor Phil Bland of the Desert Fireball Network -- which sounds like a totally rad place to work -- said there's a pretty decent chance that the meteor touched down on Earth.

"It also looks like we've seen it on multiple cameras which means that we'll be able to triangulate exactly how it came in through the atmosphere, what its position was, what its speed was, what its size was [and] work out where it came from in the solar system, and if any of it landed," he told the publication.

h/tMashable

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Sam Blum is a News Staff Writer for Thrillist. He's also a martial arts and music nerd who appreciates a fine sandwich and cute dogs. Find his clips in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club and Esquire. He's on Twitter @Blumnessmonster.