The skies above northern Queensland were set alight by a meteor which blazed through the atmosphere and caused a sonic boom.

Residents in Cairns on the east coast across to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria reported seeing the fireball growing larger as it headed towards Earth just after 9.22pm on Saturday night.

Doorbell cameras, mobile phones and dash-cams all captured the moment the space rock approached, creating a bright, green-blue glow in the dark sky.

Footage from Cairns Airport showed the meteor on its downward trajectory before disappearing in a flash of orange-yellow light.

It’s not known where the meteor landed but residents of the small town of Croydon reported feeling an explosion and hearing a loud bang.

Astrophysicist and University of Queensland professor Tamara Davis told the Brisbane Times it may have been a “rogue” meteor, which means experts had not predicted it.

“Definitely looks like a meteor,” she said. “Meteors hit our skies all the time, but that one looks like it was a particularly big one because it was really bright.

“There were some reports of people hearing a sonic boom as well, which is what you would get when you have a meteor going through the atmosphere because they come in faster than the speed of sound.

“As they slow down, they create that sonic boom.”

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It is not thought the meteor was big enough to create a crater in the earth but may have broken up into small fragments by the time it landed.

Meteors are very common but it is unusual for them to be seen in populated areas.

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