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Stargazers in Lapland reported seeing the sky “light up like day” for a few seconds as the space rock plummeted towards Earth.

And some think it was Father Christmas taking his reindeer for a test run.

Atle Staalesen filmed the intense flash of light on Thursday night in Finland.

He said: "The lights came from all around us, like a massive explosion that lasted for some five, six seconds."

Witnesses say the flash was also seen in Russia's Kola Peninsula and in Norway.

(Image: Tony Bateman) (Image: Tony Bateman)

It’s believed the shaking was due to the sonic boom the meteor caused as it burned up in the atmosphere.

The race is now on to find out where the rock landed.

Russian experts have said they are certain it did not land on its territory.

(Image: Tony Bateman) (Image: Tony Bateman)

The fireball hurtled some 150-200 kilometres above the earth's surface.

Jyrki Manninen, a Finnish physics engineer, said the glowing object was likely a meteor.

"It was probably a meteor, a fairly big rock," Manninen told Finnish media, but did not rule out the possibility it could also have been space trash, like a part from a broken satellite.

But some viewers had some more elaborate theories.

One said that it had to be "Superman from planet Krypton", while others joked that it was Father Christmas taking his reindeer for a test run ahead of Christmas Day.

Many people across the northern region reported seeing the unusual descending flare.

Witnesses within a radius of a few hundred kilometres reported hearing loud bangs.