An unusually large meteor has wowed onlookers in Sydney, Canberra and regional NSW as it streaked across the sky and combusted in an explosion of light on Thursday night.

The cosmic spectacle was reported over hundreds of kilometres from people driving home, playing outdoor sports or sitting on their verandahs.

Excited sightings came from Sydney, the ACT and regional towns — including Bathurst, Tamworth, Dubbo and the South Coast — after the celestial event about 6.30pm.

A surf camera at Sydney’s Maroubra Beach recorded vision of the ocean bathed in light as the meteor burned up over the east coast.

Astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker said the rock that created the meteor could have been 30 to 50 centimetres wide, based on video of its brightness.

For comparison, he told the Nine Network that most shooting stars seen were tiny specs of dust about the size of a grain of sand.

Avid golfer Duncan Rayner was so focused on prepping his swing at the driving range in Warriewood that he didn’t notice the sky blooming in the background of his shot.

Later, he checked the video and discovered the spectacular moment he had missed, reports the Manly Observer.

Sydneysider Junjie Yu was driving home eastbound on the M5 near Moorebank when he captured the bright flash on his dashcam.

“I’ve never seen one before, but yeah, it was quite impressive, and every single car in front of me sort of slowed down and braked, and that was pretty funny,” he told Nine.

“Maybe everyone else had the same reaction.”

Amateur astronomer David Finlay told ABC radio the display was “baffling” and could be best described as a “fireball”.

Tucker, an associate professor at Australian National University, told Nine the greenish colour indicated the space junk was a meteor, usually made of iron and nickel.

“The bright flash midway means it is likely fragmented or broke apart,” he said.

Tucker said such larger meteors may occur every month or so across Australia but this one “happened at a good time”.

“Early in the evening, so lots of people were still awake and out and about,” he said.

“They can happen in the middle of the night.”

The spectacle also lit up the internet with people describing their sightings.