Mount John Observatory

[DrAstro]

Mount John University Observatory, is New Zealand's premier astronomical research observatory. It is situated at 1,029 metres ASL atop Mount John at the northern end of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island, and was established in 1965.

[DrAstro]

Notice: This is to let everyone know that this person dose not work for Mount John Observatory:

Earlier, when it was thought to be a meteor, astronomer Natasha Gardiner said it exploded into four pieces after hitting earth's atmosphere.  Some thought it was a flaming object or a "big flame in the sky". "We have been up here on Mt John for years and we have never seen one this big. "We saw it soaring across the sky and then it exploded and went in four different directions." Gardiner guessed it would have burned down to the size of a fist.  "Normally they are about the size of a grain of sand." A large meteor over Russia several years ago created shock waves that smashed windows, injuring people, she said.  "We were a bit a little bit concerned initially to be honest." Gardiner said it was unlikely to have hit the ground.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/82275946/meteor-blazes-over-south-island

Two things: Since being at Mount John Observatory, I have never met this person before. After further investigation she apparently works for a tour company in Lake Tekapo New Zealand. The information she gave to media was incorrect that the object was not a meteor but space junk. 

[Stu Todd]

Ah, I did wonder!

Saw the space debris burning up last night. We got many calls at Dunedin observatory. From descriptions of colour, length of burn etc it seemed logical that it could only have been a piece of space junk.

Stu

[southernman]

Thanks for the clarification. 

Peter

[Peter Drew]

Would still liked to have seen it.