A FIREBALL over the skies of Tassie has sent conspiracy theorists into overdrive.

The spectacular object was spotted over Hobart yesterday morning.

Airservices Australia told ABC the show was simply a plane “as it passed over Australian airspace”.

But not everyone is buying the government’s explanation.

media_camera The slow-moving fireball over Hobart on Tuesday. Picture: Lee-Anne Peters.

“This isn’t a bloody plane, wake up people. If it was a plane then damn that would be one burning big ass plane. Planes don’t leave flames so how bout you all open your f*****g eyes and get some perspective” wrote one passionate Facebook user.

Another sceptic wrote: “No the object in this pic wasn’t a plane in my opinion as it looked like it wasn’t even moving, we sat there and stared at it for like 10-15mins”.

media_camera The spectacular display sent social media users into a frenzy. Picture: Lee-Anne Peters.

“man I read it was a UFO and sightings of landing with police sectioning the area off. Very hush hush stuff. Potential alien encounter,” a UFO believer wrote.

“omg where is it now?” another concerned Facebook user wrote.

David Finlay from Australian Meteor Reports said he had not received any reports of meteor activity over Tasmania.

media_camera The government says it’s a plane’s contrail. But not everyone is convinced. The truth is out there people! Picture: Lee-Anne Peters.

Mr Finlay said the fireball was a jet contrail in the dawn light.

“It is not uncommon for people to mistake jet contrails for meteors, especially in the afternoon and in the western sky as the sun sets. I’ve watched some people looking at contrails who even thought they were seeing a comet,” Mr Finlay told The Mercury.

After watching a video of the “meteor” taken by Hobart resident Lee-Ann Peters, Mr Finlay reacted by saying: “a beautiful video of an A380 contrail.”

Mystery of Tasmanian 'Fireball' revealed Mystery of Tasmanian 'Fireball' revealed

By checking Flight Radar data, Storyful was able to locate an Emirates plane bound from Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand. This flight was consistent with witness reports that the object was spotted over the Hobart area at 6.30am.

Originally published as Alien theorists abuzz over fireball