A brilliant meteor lit up the sky above the US Northwest around 1 am on August 14th. This is a major event that potentially dropped meteorites.
Eyewitness reports
The fireball was seen across the US Northwest and SW Canada. It was described as brilliant, brighter than the full moon. Its duration was estimated at about 3-7 seconds. While the Perseid meteor shower was near its peak at this time, the fireball was not a member of the shower.
Meteor, fireball, bolide?
The event is called a meteor, fireball and bolide by various sources. This may be confusing, but the names mean more or less the same. A meteor is the light phenomenon caused by a small piece of space rock entering the Earth’s atmosphere at tremendous speed. A fireball is a very bright meteor, caused by a slightly bigger space rock. The cutoff is usually the brightness of the brightest planet – Venus. A bolide is the same as a fireball, though the name is sometimes called for exploding fireballs.
Sonic booms
USGS reports the sonic booms from the meteor were detected by infrasound sensors on the volcanoes in the Cascade Range. This makes the fireball even more interesting. Loud sonic booms usually mean it penetrated deep into the atmosphere, below 40 km altitude, and that there is a good chance it dropped meteorites.
Videos of the fireball
The American Meteor Society has received 266 reports of the event and a number of videos of the meteor from cams all over the US Northwest. If you saw the event, consider reporting to the American Meteor Society and help gather as much information as possible. Report here.
If you saw this event, don’t forget to report it on the page below:
