People across North Canterbury have reported hearing a loud "boom" and seeing a suspected meteor or space junk trace through the sky.

At their rural property in Sefton, the Coster family was sitting down to watch the news when, just after 6pm on Monday, they heard a "massive kind of rumble", or "sonic boom".

Amanda Coster says the family's dogs all burst into the room, prompting fears it could be an earthquake. But when the family looked out the window, they saw something in the sky heading towards Mt Grey.

The object looked like it was "burning up and coming down", Coster says.

She described it as "moving slowly", and said it had an "orange glow to it" and a long trail.

Coster thought it was a meteor, and joked the "hunt's on to find it now".

One person posted to social media to say they had heard it in Oxford. Others reported seeing it from Kaiapoi and Rangiora.

A photo sent to SunLive from Leanne Swinburne from the BOP Weather and Natural Events Facebook page, shows the meteor streaking across the sky.

The meteor is of similar magnitude to another which was sighted across the North Island in 2015.

A Tauranga driver who had been driving to the gym at the time, managed to capture the event on his dash cam.

- Additional reporting by Stuff.co.nz