Residents from across central and northern Queensland have reported seeing a huge flaming object fall from the sky and hit the ground "like a bomb".

They say they saw what appeared to be a massive ball with a blue and orange tail in the sky about 6:30pm (AEST) yesterday as it plunged towards the ground.

Residents from Cunnamulla to Townsville have reported seeing the object, but there have been no reports of any debris found on the ground.

Mount Isa resident Virginia Hills says she accidentally photographed the phenomenon.

"Just happened to be - very fluky and one of those multiple shots of the moon that I was taking - rising up coming over the horizon," she said.

"We happened to catch this blazing light that was ... just falling straight down."

Ms Hills' photo has been shared on websites across the world.

"I am actually flabbergasted at the attention at the moment because it was just a complete fluke," Ms Hills said.

"If we hadn't have been up there doing that, if I didn't have my camera pointed in that direction, it would never have happened."

Townsville resident Kim Vega was sitting in her backyard and thinks she saw the moment of impact.

"It was like an explosion but without a sound," she said.

"It [would have been] like an atomic bomb effect when it would have hit the ground and all the trees and the skies lit up."

She said it appeared the object hit the ground in rural bushland.

"Until you see them come out of the sky like that and actually look as though they hit the ground, they could obviously do a lot of damage," she said.

"Because it hit [a rural area], obviously no-one rang up and reported 'it hit a house'."

Another Townsville resident Terry Robinson said the fireball looked "amazing".

"It was pretty big and this thing hit like a bomb - it was huge," he said.

"I don't know how big it was, but in the sky it looked like half a dozen jumbo jets falling out of the sky at the same time."

There were also several reports around Rockhampton and across the state's Central Highlands.

ABC Radio listener John said his 10-year-old son Hamish saw it while kicking a football at Emerald, west of Rockhampton.

"He came running in and he said 'dad, dad - I've just seen a meteorite'," he said.

"He said it just lit up the sky and there was all this colour and everything else."

Alexander says he saw it while driving home to Alton Downs, north-west of Rockhampton.

"I said 'wow, that's a bright falling star'. I thought 'wow, that's close'," he said.

Object most likely to be satellite debris

Astronomer Owen Bennedick, from Wappa Falls Observatory in Yandina on the Sunshine Coast, suggested the object was not a meteor but more likely part of a satellite re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

"Each different metal or each different plastic that a satellite's made of will burn at a different temperature and have a different colour spectrum," he said.

Mr Bennedick said falling satellite debris was becoming more and more common.

But he said the spectacle of an impact can be an optical illusion.

"Only the heavier objects make it to ground - the rest of it burns up in the atmosphere," he said.

"My experience is that most people think it's landed just over the next door hill, but the pieces have actually landed hundreds of kilometres away.

"They look like they're very close but that's not necessarily the case."