Port Macquarie resident Hamish Johnson reported seeing a ‘ball of fire’ in the easterly sky around lunchtime. He managed to get his camera out in time to take a photo but missed a video opportunity as the bright light descended toward the horizon with a plume of smoke behind it.

Several other skygazers saw the light and it turns out there is possibly a reasonable, but rare, explanation.

Port Macquarie’s David Reneke, one of Australia’s most well known and respected astronomers and lecturer, said the possibility of a daylight fireball would have been a spectacle to witness.

Residents at Lake Cathie and southward near Moorland also reported similar sights in the sky on Saturday night.

“NASA have released a SPB (super pressure balloon) that 'looks' like this and have frightened the heck out of half of Victoria last week,” he explained.

“It displayed as ‘roundish’ and’ whitish’ in colour. But this is moving slowly and would take many minutes to pass over...not quickly and certainly no tail. 

“So, that leaves what I thought it was originally - and I wish I’d have seen this one as it was in daylight. Because of the easterly direction (incoming bolides, meteors are usually seen in the east) and the early morning (usually between midnight and 5am).

“I’m more than certain it was a rare object called a rogue fireball or basically, a daylight fireball.

“This one came in a little later in the afternoon which is pretty rare, but not unheard of.”

Mr Reneke ruled out space junk. The next piece of space debris re-entry is scheduled to be seen from Australia around 4.30am Monday morning.

Others have suggested it could have simply been a flare.

Fireballs are actually meteors that heat up so much they literally catch fire and burn – they are much rarer than ordinary meteors and usually much bigger.

“This one would have been the size of maybe a soccer ball. The trail it was showing to the witness was actually bits of it burning off,” Mr Reneke explained.

Fireballs seen at night are often reported to “explode” and sometimes with a loud bang.

“I’ve actually witnessed this. This one would have done the same but the flash was lost in the daylight. And yes, a small bit of it probably made landfall.

“I’ve seen two of these at night and they are spectacular. Bright, fast moving with a long smoky-like tail.

“The earth gets hit by a hundred tonnes of meteoric material each day. Most of it burns up and falls as dust but now and then a bigger piece survives and we see it as a bright meteor.”