Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jun 4, 2004 0:35:45 GMT -6
I'm telling you all...we are in some sorta debris field heading our way!
Yesterday, a great fireball flashed thru the Washington state skies, Below is a report from USA Today:
Officials confirm meteor source of skyburst
SEATTLE (AP) — A meteor about the size of a computer monitor flashed across the Northwest sky early Thursday, setting off booms that stunned witnesses.
"There was some question as to whether it was a piece of space junk burning up, but it was not," said Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "As far as I've been able to figure out, it was simply a rock falling out of the sky, as they are wont to do on occasion."
Chester said it was a type of meteor called a bolide, one that appears like a fireball in the sky, and was about the size of a small piece of luggage or a computer monitor.
Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests.
Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said the skybursts were reported over a wide area around 2:40 a.m.
Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the Puget Sound region from the Tacoma area to Whidbey Island and as far as 260 miles to the east said the sky lit up brilliantly, and many reported booms as if from one or more explosions.
"It made a pretty big bang," said Petty Officer Andrew Davis at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, 40 miles north of Seattle.
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SEATTLE (AP) — A meteor about the size of a computer monitor flashed across the Northwest sky early Thursday, setting off booms that stunned witnesses.
"There was some question as to whether it was a piece of space junk burning up, but it was not," said Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "As far as I've been able to figure out, it was simply a rock falling out of the sky, as they are wont to do on occasion."
Chester said it was a type of meteor called a bolide, one that appears like a fireball in the sky, and was about the size of a small piece of luggage or a computer monitor.
Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests.
Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said the skybursts were reported over a wide area around 2:40 a.m.
Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the Puget Sound region from the Tacoma area to Whidbey Island and as far as 260 miles to the east said the sky lit up brilliantly, and many reported booms as if from one or more explosions.
"It made a pretty big bang," said Petty Officer Andrew Davis at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, 40 miles north of Seattle.
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Security camera caught the flash like it was high noon. I wouldn't be at all surprised if a sizable rock came crashing down soon. Good thing I park my car in my garage!
Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]