Stunning meteor lights up sky above Australia

Residents were shaken as it passed overhead.
Residents were shaken as it passed overhead. Photo credit: Craig Turton / AAP

Thousands of Australians have felt and seen a large meteor which shot over the country with a great flash and rumble.

Photographer Craig Turton went to the North Pine Dam, north of Brisbane, on Saturday night to capture the stars reflecting off the dam. Suddenly he saw a brilliant light in the sky.

"I saw it come right down in the sky, so I just hoped while the exposure was going that I actually captured it," he told Brisbane Times.

"I got the bottom two-thirds of the meteor in the picture... it was the right place, right time."

A photo posted to his Instagram shows a great arrow of light shooting towards the horizon.

The incredible event was witnessed by thousands of other Queenslanders, to took to social media to report seeing the flash.

"I was driving on the Gatton bypass and the sky went a purplish colour for a few seconds and then there was a big flash of bright light," Jill Naumann wrote, ABC reports. "[It] spooked the crap out of me."

Other said they felt their houses shaken from its flight overhead.

"I thought it was a little earthquake or something. I heard three booms in quick succession and the house shook. Set all the dogs off in the street," Jac Wil-in said, according to ABC.

Scientists say the meteor was likely caused by the 'Taurid Swarm', the debris left over from a massive comet. The Earth passes near to the 'Swarm' twice a year, resulting in increased meteor activity.

Newshub.