Social media was sent into a frenzy just after 7am on Saturday, when dozens of residents noticed their homes shaking and heard distant booms.

Geoscience Australia received multiple reports from residents of an earthquake, but confirmed there had been "no seismic event".

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Astronomers then linked the shaking with the sonic boom from a large meteorite that was seen soaring through the sky above the Riverina at the exact same time.

Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist and cosmologist at the ANU Mount Stromlo Observatory, said the meteorite was remnants from a spacecraft re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

"It was space junk. Bits of debris from the truck - the unpressurised cargo bit - from SpaceX's Crew-1 human launch," Dr Tucker told Australian Community Media.

The spacecraft launched from Earth on November 16, 2020 - meaning the debris spotted above the Riverina had been hurtling around in space for nearly two years.

Dr Andrew Jacob, an astronomer and curator at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, said it is not uncommon for large meteorites to cause sonic booms when they breach into the planet's atmosphere.

"Meteorite's coming in from space are travelling at many 100s of km/h ... so when they reach Earth's atmosphere there is a sudden deceleration," he said.

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"That creates a shock wave that then radiates down through the atmosphere and shakes your windows and makes the booms that people sometimes hear."

According to Dr Jacob, thousands of meteorites come down to Earth every year but it is only the larger ones - at least the size of a football - that cause shock waves.

He said any meteorite spotted by residents down on the ground was likely 80 to 100 kilometres in the sky, meaning if it was large enough to actually land on the ground before disintegrating it would be hundreds of kilometres away.

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