Witnesses have reported seeing a bright flash of light in sky above Wellington and Wairarapa shortly before 2pm on Thursday.

Footage from the dashcam of plumber Curtis Powell, who was driving north of Shannon at the time, captured a bright flash between clouds.

Astronomer Dr Ian Griffin believes it could be either be a re-entering satellite or potentially a meteoroid.

"Meteorites in this country are quite rare so actually getting one would be quite cool."

He encouraged witnesses to keep record of the event as it may help improve scientific gatherings.

"If you've got video or photographs of the event it's really important to keep them, as we might be able to use them to triangulate the position of the thing, and where it landed, if it did land.

Griffin says scientists with seismometers across the country should check for "shockwaves of this thing exploding".

"Also if you saw it and heard a bang, that's quite interesting too. If you know the time between when you saw the flash of light heard the bang that gives us a sense of distance," he said.

Top Image: Hyslop Plumbing's Curtis Powell was driving north of Shannon at 1.40pm on Wednesday when his dashcam camera captured the fireball in the sky. Photo: Supplied

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