Large, rumbling meteor lights up Norwegian night sky

Parts of the 'spooky' object may have hit the Earth close to the capital, Oslo, experts said

A videograb shows an object lighting up the sky over Holmestrand, south of Oslo, the capital of Norway. Reuters

An "unusually large meteor" briefly lit up southern Norway on Sunday, creating a spectacular sound and light display as it crossed the sky, and a fragment of it may have crashed to Earth, possibly not far from the capital, Oslo, experts said.

There were no immediate word of injuries to people or damage to property. Reports of sightings started at about 1am GMT, when the object was reported over Trondheim, about 490 kilometres north of Oslo.

A web camera in Holmestrand, south of the capital, captured a bright object in the sky illuminating a marina.

The Norwegian Meteor Network said it was analysing video and other data on Sunday to try to pinpoint the meteor's origin and destination.

Data suggested a meteorite may have landed in a wooded area called Finnemarka, 60 kilometres west of Oslo, the network said.

"This was crazy," the network's Morten Bilet, who saw and heard the meteor, told Reuters.

No debris had been found by Sunday afternoon. Mr Bilet said that given the "demanding" location, it could take "some 10 years" to locate.

The meteor travelled at 15 to 20 kilometres a second and lit up the night sky for about five or six seconds, he said.

Some observers said they felt a strong wind blow as the object caused a pressure wave.

"What we had last night was a large rock travelling likely from between Mars and Jupiter, which is our asteroid belt," Mr Bilet said. "And when that whizzes in, it creates a rumble, light and great excitement among us [experts] and maybe some fear among others."

There were no reports of people being particularly frightened, Mr Bilet said, adding that for those nearest it was likely to have been more of a "spooky" event.

A meteor that exploded over the central Russia near the city of Chelyabinsk in 2013 rained fireballs over a vast area and caused a shock wave that broke windows, damaged buildings and injured 1,200 people.