June 11 - A "ball of fire" has been seen in the sky over Wellington.
The MetService said in a tweet it looked like an aircraft contrail lit up by the setting sun.
Wellington residents have posted on Twitter with excitement.
Mega Nebs said: "Did anyone else see a giant meteor? Ball of fire? slowly falling over the western horizon in Wellington for the last 10 minutes?"
Several took photos and uploaded them to social media, with some speculating it was a meteorite.
Chang Hung said: "apparently a meteorite or asteroid flew pass the skies of Wellington this evening -- anyone see it?"
Luke Appleby called it "spooky".
Some have speculated the light was the contrail of the Qantas flight QF28 from Santiago to Sydney passing over Wellington at 38,000 feet.
A MetService duty forecaster, Karl Loots, said colleagues had checked flight times and found a scheduled service between Australia and South America that coincided with the timing of the spectacular sight.
They concluded it must be the vapour trail of a high-altitude jet lit up by the setting sun.
