Meteor seen across wide swath of Pacific Northwest

Idaho Statesman (via AP) ^ | 19 Feb 2008 | NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS (AP)

[GOP_Raider]

SPOKANE, Wash. — An apparent meteor streaked through the sky over the Pacific Northwest early Tuesday, drawing reports of bright lights and sonic booms in parts of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Although a witness reported seeing the object strike the Earth in a remote part of Adams County, in southeast Washington, it had not been found.

"I'm convinced it was a meteor," said Geoff Chester, spokesman for the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "It was a classic description of a fireball."

Chester speculated the meteor was the size of a big suitcase and had been orbiting the sun for millions of years before entering Earth's orbit.

The Federal Aviation Administration said a private pilot reported seeing the meteor hit the Earth in a burst of light near State Route 26 and the Lind-Hatton Road about 5:45 a.m.

The Adams County sheriff's office had no immediate reports of damage, injury or a meteor landing in the area, about 175 miles east-southeast of Seattle and 90 miles southwest of Spokane.

[GOP_Raider]

The FR Idaho Ping List FReepmail GOP_Raider to be on or off this list

[tet68]

The Federal Aviation Administration said a private pilot reported seeing the meteor hit the Earth in a burst of light near State Route 26 and the Grover’s Mill overpass about 5:45 a.m.

[GOP_Raider]

Any of the Washingtonians see this? Oddly enough I was asleep when this thing fell from the sky.

[NonValueAdded]

Nah, one of the shuttle astronauts left the coffee cup on the shuttle roof after their last space walk.

[BenLurkin]

a big suitcase and had been orbiting the sun for millions of years before entering Earth's orbit.

Antediluvian lost luggage?

[b4its2late]

You sure it wasn’t her thighness on a late night broom ride?

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Isn’t the eclipse tonight?

[GOP_Raider]

We do have very lenient gun laws here (well compared to the rest of America) for this very reason, so I would hope we would have noticed something like that. :)

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

And that is not a "thread-hijack" cuz I didn't mention Ron Paul, Illegal Immigration, Gay Bathrooom Sex by politicians or the Moonies!

/h

[GOP_Raider]

Ha Ha!

[GOP_Raider]

Isn’t the eclipse tonight?

But seriously though, I thought the eclipse was tomorrow.

[Squantos]

Stop it yer scaring me !......:o)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Wasn’t tonight the night we were blowin’ up that old, broken piece of space junk before it hurled it’s cargo of frozen urine into our atmosphere?

Or was tonight the night we testing ‘aggressive nuclear weapons,’ per Russia?

Don’t these ‘Spokaniacs’ keep up on Current Events!? :)

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

You are right

Late Wednesday and Early Thursday: The Moon will be in total eclipse from 0301 GMT to 0351 GMT. This will be visible east of the Rocky Mountains in North America, as well as in all of Central and South America, West Africa and Western Europe. The zenith of totality is close to French Guiana.

It will be in partial eclipse from 0143 GMT to 0301 GMT, visible west of the Rockies and from the eastern Pacific, and from 0351 GMT to 0509 GMT, visible across the rest of Africa and Europe and much of South and West Asia.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

That is Thursday night. So if the run down can be laid out:

Tuesday night: Streaking Fireballs

Wednesday night: Eclipse

Thursday night: Missle Defense Test Blow Satellite up

Friday: ???

[sionnsar]

Any of the Washingtonians see this? Oddly enough I was asleep when this thing fell from the sky.

I'm on the other side of the world, so I missed it.

Thanks to GOP_Raider for the ping.

Say WA? Evergreen State ping

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.

Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Eclipse is Wednesday night.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Thanks. Gonna be good in the Big ol’ Texas sky!

[Vicki]

Darn, missed it! Think we saw one a couple months ago though, much smaller but came across the road in front of us. It had trailing rainbow like colors. This was in Fife. Read a couple days later in the paper that there had been a meteorite.