A bright fireball streaked across the Washington night sky early Aug. 14 at 12:48 a.m. PDT. First spotted above the town of Soap Lake, the fireball traveled north at about 33,000 mph, covering 36 miles through the atmosphere before fragmenting above Sim’s Corner. The breakup released energy equivalent to roughly 10 tons of TNT.
A massive meteor tore across the Pacific Northwest sky just after midnight Friday, exploding in a brilliant blue flash that stunned skywatchers from Washington to Canada — including hundreds dancing the night away at a music festival.
Across Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and the Canadian province of British Columbia, hundreds of witnesses reported a bright fireball in the early morning hours of Aug. 14 at 12:48 a.m. PDT, and if you were lucky enough to be awake and looking at the right moment, you wouldn’t miss it.
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Footage from Othello, Washington, captures the meteor blazing across the night sky.
(Julian Vasquez) -
Footage from Othello, Washington, captures the meteor blazing across the night sky.
(Julian Vasquez) -
The meteor was first spotted above Soap Lake in central Washington, racing north at about 33,000 mph as it streaked across the state before breaking apart in the atmosphere.
(Julian Vasquez) -
Footage from Othello, Washington, captures the meteor blazing across the night sky.
(Julian Vasquez)
The fireball was first spotted above the Washington town of Soap Lake, moving north at 33,000 mph, according to NASA.
Across Washington, security cameras and doorbell cameras captured jaw-dropping views of the brilliant blue fireball as it streaked overhead, briefly turning the dark night sky into a shade of electric blue.
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The celestial night light burned bright and quick, and was just a flash in the pan before fragmenting and exploding above Sim’s Corner after traveling 36 miles through the atmosphere.
Camera footage from Inchelium, Washington, captured the fireball blazing across the night sky.
(Gina Phillips Lawrence)
If there was any night to be peering up at the stars in Washington, Friday couldn’t have been a better one – and for festival attendees still dancing at Bass Canyon, an annual 3-day electronic dance music festival held at the Gorge Amphitheatre– they saw quite the show.
Anthony Yazzie was dancing alongside hundreds of others at a silent disco on the tail end of the first night of the festival in George, Washington, when the once-in-a-lifetime celestial spectacle put on a performance that will be near-impossible for performing artists to top for the rest of the weekend.
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“I was dancing with hundreds of other folks at the silent disco at the time of the meteorite show. We all had headphones on to abide by quiet hours and still be able to enjoy the music, with headphones on,” Yazzie told FOX Weather.
“We were dancing away and the whole area all of a sudden got as bright as daytime, and I could hear gasps and a weird wooshing sound through my headphones. I looked up, and the bright blast was gone, and I could see a trail across the sky! Hundreds of us looked up in awe, completely and utterly, starstruck.”
The fireball fragmented about 28 miles above Sims Corner in Douglas County, Washington, after first becoming visible roughly 48 miles above Soap Lake and traveling north for about 36 miles at 33,000 mph
(Tom Baxter)
The vibrant 16-inch meteor made quite the shining entrance, and an ultimately booming exit.
When it broke apart, the fireball unleashed an energy of 10 tons of TNT, creating a pressure/shock wave that spread to the ground.
Across the region, the bolide was registered on USGS infrasound instruments at several volcanoes, highlighting how the soundwaves caused by the explosion of the meteor reached different volcanoes at different times.
This infographic shows the infrasound signal that was detected at each of the volcanoes listed on the figure (Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood) between 12:55 AM and 1:10 AM Pacific Time. Data from USGS and Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.
(USGS)
USGS Volcanoes wrote on Facebook, “The meteor generated a lot of low-frequency energy as it broke up in the atmosphere. And those low-frequency sound waves traveled at the speed of sound (which is about 770 mph) across the region. The waves were detected at different times at the various locations because that’s how long it took the sound waves to travel.”
If you’re in the area and missed the show, you could still have a chance to take home a piece of it — if you’re really lucky. According to NASA, weather radar indicates some small meteorites may have survived their fiery plunge through the atmosphere and landed in the area.
