Posted on 03/09/2018 9:12:29 PM PST by BenLurkin
On Wednesday night, many Washington residents were greeted by a loud and unexpected sight: a big fireball that lit up the sky. Witnesses reported hearing a loud, booming sound; others reported shaking as the fireball whizzed through the sky. Officials were both surprised and confused by the sudden appearance, later reaching out to the FAA and other agencies in an effort to figure out what caused it.
...
Witnesses say the fireball was spotted as far north as the Vancouver region and as far south as Portland. According to Johnson Space Centers Dr. Marc Fries, this was one of the largest bolide meteors to make an appearance in the last two decades. The meteor is estimated to have been about the size a minivan when it entered the atmosphere, burning up so that by the time it hit the ocean, only a brick-sized chunk remained.
(Excerpt) Read more at slashgear.com ...
Twas just fireball making an appearance.
Elon Musk was unavailable for comment.
...but a very fast and hot brick-sized chunk was flying through the air when it struck....
Yes, typical of Washington officials to be confused by a fireball meteor. After all, they are confused by the free enterprise system, why so many kids in the state are drug addicts and dead, what the governor is a nut, the Seattle mayors are just as crazy and Marxist, Seattle is the drug capital of the state, and many of their politicians are so far to the left that they fall into the Pacific Ocean when they go out for a walk.
Other than that Washington officials, are you confused by lightning too?
I just checked. My Highlander is still in the driveway.
Um, when objects like a meteor , which is most often a chunk of iron are traveling at around, oh..25 to maybe 30,000 miles an hour and they hit the Earths atmosphere they most often start burning. Iron tends to do that. Anyway that heat produces a ‘’fireball’. Man, Listen up you folks out there in Washington State, I’m all for legalizing the weed but sometimes you’ve gotta put the bong down and get back in the game.
I saw the one that passed over WA decades ago - quite a sight as I was in a lightless area at the time.
My wife’s Highlander is also accounted for.
Minivan? Are they sure it wasn’t a Ford Exploder with the Firestorm tires?
“Witnesses say the fireball was spotted as far north as the Vancouver region and as far south as Portland.”
That’s not much distance at all, just the width of the Columbia River. (I know, I know. But they didn’t specify Vancouver, B.C., did they?)
That was my thought too. Isn’t that just across the bridge?
Yes, it is. When I was a kid, the Interstate Bridge had a toll of 25 cents, but they stopped charging it after the bridge was paid off. That would never happen today.
ET was demonstrating that piloting a Spacecraft drunk is a very bad idea ;-)
*ping*
Could this have been an outlier to the much larger asteroid that passed by the earth a few days ago?
Good question.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.