UPDATED 11.25PM: A big flash of light with reports of a sonic boom in the sky across the country has people abuzz about its origin.

VIDEO: Check out this phenomenal footage of the mysterious meteor on a dash cam

The phenomena was seen just before 10pm. 

Weatherwatch head weather analyst Philip Duncan says this flash of light was brilliant, speculator and something we don't get often.

He says it could be a meteorite that has fallen into the sea.

It's not big enough to cause a major wave or anything dramatic, just a fairly small rock but something much bigger than we'd normally get that's lit up across the sky or perhaps a satellite that's fallen apart," he says.

Spokesman for the Palmerston North Astronomical Society Noel Munford believes it's a "fireball that did not hit the ground". 

Fire Service northern shift manager Scott Osmond says they received calls within minutes of the event, including from Whangamata on the Coromandel, and areas south of Auckland.

Stephanie at Te Atatu was shaken by loud noises outside her house.

"I heard a terrible noise and a rumble and I though 'Gosh, that's not an accident, it's someone trying to break in'."

"It was so loud."

Andy, a caller from Upper Hutt, thought a meteor was hitting the ground.

"It came straight down. It wasn't going away at an angle," he says.

"I actually thought it was going to hit the hill."

In Franklin, Paula says a friend told her the flashes and bangs were several minutes apart.

"My husband went outside and all the birds were screaming and yelling in the trees," she said.

"We though 'oh my god' it's an earthquake." 

Kev was startled by the event on Takaka Hill in the upper South Island.

"I lost sight of it over the top of the hill and there was an almighty green flash."

Colin from Fielding said "it was quite a long span of green light."