There was plenty to see on an eventful Melbourne winter night, then absolutely nothing to see in the morning, as skies lit up with a spectacular display that turned out to be falling space junk, then closed over with fog.

For the record, we should also mention that Melbourne had its equal third-coldest night of winter 2023, with a low of 4.7°C at 4:43 am. Indeed it stayed chilly well into Tuesday morning as the fog struggled to lift, with the temp crawling up to just 6.6°C by 10 am.

But the night of Monday August 7, 2023, will mostly be remembered for that spectacular sky display.

Space junk lights up the skies over Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/Oaok47VVbh

— mark davidson (@markjdavidson) August 7, 2023

The latest word on the bright trail of light streaking across the sky, then appearing to break into fragments, is that it was likely a human-made object that had fallen from orbit, not a meteor.

Adding my own contribution to the Melbourne space junk (I don’t think it’s a meteor) - Cool to see though pic.twitter.com/8VV4VBIwy5

— Bobs (@_bobs__) August 7, 2023

Professor Alan Duffy, an astronomer at Swinburne University, told the ABC that the object was plummeting at 7 kilometres per second and probably weighed upwards of two tonnes.

Little more information is known at this time, however the Australian Space Agency has confirmed it is investigating.

Meanwhile back on the ground, Melbourne should eventually warm up to 15°C this Tuesday, which happens to be the long-term average maximum for August.

Image: Moody Melbourne. Source: @buckraver on Instagram.

On Wednesday morning there is also a chance of fog around the city with another fine day ahead, before Thursday turns showery as a cold front moves through the city.

As for prospects of another space junk shower, that's anyone's guess!