Posted on 06/03/2004 6:26:16 AM PDT by travelnurse
Possible Meteor Over Western Washington
Thursday, June 03, 2004
SEATTLE — Bright flashes and sharp booms were reported in the skies over the Puget Sound (search) area early Thursday, and aviation officials said a meteor (search) may have been the source.
An early report that a meteor might have hit near Chehalis, about 90 miles south of the city, turned out to be false, a University of Washington scientist who specializes in meteorites said.
Toby Smith, a lecturer in astronomy, told The Associated Press scientists were looking into the cause of the skybursts reported over a wide area about 2:40 a.m.
Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the sound from near Tacoma to Whidbey Island and as far as 100 miles to the east near Ellensburg said the sky lit up brightly, and many also reported booming sounds as if from one or more explosions.
Officials at the National Weather Service (search) ruled out any weather-related causes, and duty officers at the Federal Aviation Administration (search) and the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station told The Associated Press they knew of no civilian or military airplane problems.
Civilian pilots reported seeing the flash from Ellensburg, east of the Cascade Range, said an FAA duty officer who did not give her name.
At Whidbey Island, Petty Officer Andrew Davis said he and other saw the skyburst.
"It made a pretty big bang," Davis said. "We thought it could maybe be a meteorite (a meteor that has struck Earth) or something."
A man who identified himself as University of Washington astronomy professor Bradley Hammermaster told KIRO Radio a team was being assembled to head for an area where the meteor was believed to have hit, but that call appeared to be a hoax, Smith said.
No one by the name of Hammermaster is known to the astronomy department, and the description given by the caller to the station of the object -- an automobile-sized piece of a small car from a piece of the larger Trilene meteor -- was clearly bogus, Smith added.
By the time Mike Webb hits the air, it'll be spun as another example of Bush's lax national security.
I read on another site where a nurse who lives in the area was working in a hospital ER at the time of the siting.. she said it was no hoax and it was the size of a car!
Don't Cry, Its Only Thunder...cir 1982
1. Aussie
2. Bloke
lol
It woke me up - a loud boom, and the house shuddered. Probably a meteor, since the skies were clear and thunder seems unlikely.
It woke up a lady I know, she was scared. Another guy I know, Lelah P. was on his way home and had to change his underwear when he got home from the bar....
That makes three earth strikes in three months. Meteors are fairly rare in occurance, but to have three in the span of 90 days? Canada, Wisconsin and now Washington.
Maybe Aussie is not too far off!!
There has to be a way to crosslink threads on the same topic without giving up the advantages of this scrolling format.
If there is another thread on the subject, could you please post the link so all can see, and thanks!
It's not unheard of for asteroids to explode in the atmosphere before hitting the earth. A good example was the mysterious explosion which leveled a forest in Siberia in 1908, with the power of a nuclear bomb. Some theorize that it was essentially a comet, and that the large icey mass vaporized when it hit the Earth's atmosphere, causing a powerful explosion.
http://www.psi.edu/projects/siberia/siberia.html
(excerpt... see website for entire article)
In Brief:
At 7:17 AM on the morning of June 30, 1908, a mysterious explosion occurred in the skies over Siberia. It was caused by the impact and breakup of a large meteorite, at an altitude roughly six kilometers in the atmosphere. Realistic pictures of the event are unavailable. However, Russian scientists collected eyewitness accounts of the event. I believe that we now know enough about large impacts to "decode" the subjective descriptions of the witnesses and create realistic views of this historic asteroid impact as seen from different distances.
What do we know about the explosion?
You can get a sense of the magnitude of this event by comparing observations made at different distances. Seismic vibrations were recorded by sensitive instruments as much as 1000 km (600 mi) away. At 500 km (300 mi), observers reported "deafening bangs" and a fiery cloud on the horizon. About 170 km (110 mi) from the explosion, the object was seen in the cloudless, daytime sky as a brilliant, sunlike fireball; thunderous noises were heard. At distances around 60 km, people were thrown to the ground or even knocked unconscious; windows were broken and crockery knocked off shelves. Probably the closest observers were some reindeer herders asleep in their tents in several camps about 30 km (20 mi) from the site. They were blown into the air and knocked unconscious; one man was blown into a tree and later died. "Everything around was shrouded in smoke and fog from the burning fallen trees."
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" - anyone have the lyrics to this song?
It's Bush's fault! It's the evil Republicans! Global Warming!
From our state board:
Regarding your message about meteor --
Early this morning witnesses reported that the night sky was filled with bright light and booming sounds. The black sky was filled with light as if a new dawn was coming. Brief report and photo taken in Portland are posted here:
http://www.koin.com/webnews/20042/20040603_skyburst.shtml
Signs and portents were considered heavenly messages and warnings in ancient times:
This story is BS. Apparently Mr. 'Hammermaster' lied.
Hey kiddo, did you hear or see any of this this morning?
I have my own private, personal thoughts about what these "signs and wonders" may signify. But I will not comment upon them here. Please take care. Peace of the Lord be with you.
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.