Meteorite fall (~ 69 g) near Masterton, Greater Wellington Region, Wairarapa, North Island, New Zealand at 10:26:02-07 (UTC) on 28 July 2026
After several days of searching four meteorites (8 g, 9 g, 12 g and 40 g) of the bolide above New Zealand’s lower North Island at ~10:26:02-07 UTC (22:26:02-07 local) on 28th July 2026 have been found on farmland north of Masterton, Wairarapa by members of a search team (Steve Wyn-Harris, Bruce Charlier and others) organized by Fireballs Aoetearoa.
The atmospheric trajectory of the fireball and the dark flight trajectory were calculated by scientists from New Zealand, Canada and Scotland based on Fireballs Aotearoa’s meteor camera recordings. The meteoroid with an initial mass of more than 10 kg was recorded entering Earth’s atmosphere at a steep angle at an altitude of ~90 km with an entry speed of 14 km/s. At an altitude of about 30 km above the ground the meteoroid started to fragment during several fragmentation events. After about 7 seconds at the end of its luminous trail at an altitude of about 18 km the remaining mass had a final speed of about 2 km/s.
Steve Wyn-Harris calls out to the public saying “Should people find black rocks in the area surrounding Masterton that they suspect could be a meteorite, they should photograph the rock and location, carefully bag the sample and contact FireballsAotearoa@gmail.com to confirm its origin. Please respect landowners rights!”
The largest fragment weighing about 40 grams was found by Liam McGovern. Photo: Bruce Charlier
The 8-gram find in situ was found by Steve Wyn-Harris. Photo: Steve Wyn-Harris
The bolide
The bolide recorded from Toatoa, rural Ōpōtiki (Bay of Plenty). Video: David Greig (Fireballs Aotearoa)
The bolide above Mount Ruapehu and Mount Tongariro, recorded by a volcano camera trained on Mount Tongariro and Mount Ruapehu on the central plateau. Photo: GeoNet
The bolide captured with a MallinCam All Sky Cam from Lower Hutt in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Photo and Video: SparkyNZL
The bolide’s atmospheric trajectory. Image: Fireballs Aotearoa
A stacked night footage from one of the Fireball Cameras showing the meteor. Photo: Fireballs Aotearoa Backpaddock Lakes NZ005T camera
“Calculated orbit of the rock (green) immediately before it crashed into Earth. The path shows that it was derived from between Mars (red) and Jupiter (pale brown), which is the Asteroid Belt. Earth is blue.” Image: Fireballs Aotearoa.
