Fire in the sky: on the trail of space rocks with New Zealand’s meteorite hunters

Weeks after installing a network of meteor-detecting cameras, the members of Fireballs Aotearoa were granted their dearest wish: a rock that fell to Earth

It looks like a scene from a crime show as a search party in hi-vis jackets walks in formation, heads down, searching the brush for clues. But this group is not looking for evidence of a crime, they are after something harder to find: celestial debris from the formation of our solar system.

On 28 August, just before 11pm, an immense bright light was seen streaking across New Zealand's southern sky, followed by a sonic boom. The spectacle, like a brushstroke of white paint on black ink, was captured by 20 hi-tech cameras across Southland set up for this exact event - a meteor entering the atmosphere above, and hopefully landing in, New Zealand.