'Beaming bright light' flashes across the sky as meteor crashes around Townsville

A driver has shared incredible footage of the moment a 'beaming bright light' flashed across the sky.

Jim Robertson's dashcam recorded the extraordinary moment the sky lit up, 9.22pm on Saturday night, as he drove along University Road in Townsville.

There were multiple reports in Queensland of bright blue, green, white and even orange flashes followed by a booming noise around the region.

Jim Robertson's dashcam recorded the extraordinary moment the sky lit up as he drove along University Road in Townsville on Saturday night

There were multiple reports in Queensland of bright brightly coloured flashes high in the sky above Townsville on Saturday night followed by a booming noise

Mr Robertson said he saw a large streaking light in the sky. 

He said the incident was over in 'a couple of seconds'.

'We just thought, "What the hell is that? Are we being invaded, was it a plane crash, was it space junk?"' he told 9News.

He described it as a 'fluke' experience to capture the flashes on his dashcam.

Queenslanders from the state's far west to the Cooktown in the north saw the flashes or bright ligthts, while people in Perth and Sydney claimed also to have seen the phenomenon.

An expert has weighed in already to shut down any talk of flying saucers. 

Australian National University Astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker said it was definitely a meteor.

He said the incident was most likely caused by part of an asteroid breaking away between Mars and Jupiter.

'As it hit the earth's atmosphere, it created this bright flash and show in the sky,' Dr Tucker said.

 An expert has weighed in already to shut down any talk of flying saucers

 Australian National University Astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker said it was definitely a meteor

The blue-green colour flashes seen are caused by the iron and nickel on the meteor heating up.

The meteor was could have been travelling between 100,000 and 150,000 kilometres per hour, Dr Tucker said.

He said the boom sound people hear comes from the meteor breaking apart as it nears earth.

Some reports said the meteor may have crashed in the Croydon area, 600km inland from Townsville.

Some Croydon locals reported hearing loud bangs and experienced their houses shaking around the same time.