[meteorite-list] Washingon Meteor

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jun 4 11:53:20 2004
Message-ID: <200406041553.IAA02751_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1918041&nav=EyAzNeq4

Surveillance cam catches meteor flash
KATC 3 News Channel
June 4, 2004

Scientists are working to find out what was the cause of a series
of bright flashes and booms that lit up part of the sky in the
western part of the United States early Thursday morning (6/3/04).

A surveillance camera at the "Crazy Moose Casino" in Mountlake
Terrace, Washington captured the flash on videotape, which was
seen shortly before 3am (pacific time).

Officials at the National Weather Service ruled out any
weather-related reasons for the flashes and booms. Some military
officials say one possibility is that a meteor may have shattered
as it passed through the atmosphere.

An astronomy professor at the University of Washington in Seattle
says a possible meteorite may have crashed into Earth about
30-miles south of Olympia, Washington. Bradley Hammermaster, a
professor at University of Washington says the meteorite was
probably the size of a small car.

Hammermaster says he has put together a team to look in the area
where the object may have slammed into the ground. One witness to
the event, a Petty Officer at the Naval Air Station on Whidbey
Island says the "object" made "a pretty big bang." There are no
reports of any injuries or damage.

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001947342_meteor04m.html

Small meteor makes big noise across Western Washington
By Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times
June 4, 2004

Looking out the window of his Bellingham home, Jerry
Campbell's first thought was "nuclear bomb."

Linda Schumpert, who was driving along a lonely,
tree-lined road near Monroe, believed she was being
beamed up by space aliens.

Seattle meteorologist Cliff Mass leapt out of bed and
raced to his computer to check the University of
Washington's seismic monitors, even though it didn't
feel quite like an earthquake.

When the skies flashed daylight-bright at 2:40 a.m.,
followed by reverberations so fierce they shook walls
and rattled windows, people across Western
Washington found it easy to imagine all sorts of
possibilities - most of them frightening.

But by the time the morning commute started yesterday,
the rational explanation was widely known: A meteor
the size of a computer monitor plowed into the Earth's
atmosphere somewhere over the region, traveling at a
speed approaching 50,000 mph and creating a fireball
that eclipsed the full moon before exploding into bits.

About 80 of the UW's seismic stations recorded the
event, which registered magnitude 1.6 on the earthquake
scale - though the measure doesn't make much sense
when applied to vibrations that come out of the sky,
UW seismologist Steve Malone said with a laugh.

Nevertheless, Malone was able to use the instrument
readings to pinpoint the site of the explosion: About six
miles northeast of the town of Snohomish and 26 miles
above ground.

"That's pretty far up there," Malone said. "And it looks
like it entered the atmosphere at a fairly steep angle."

If any pieces survived the punishing transit, they would
be scattered across the landscape between Snohomish and
Everett. But unless chunks wound up in somebody's yard -
or on top of their car, as happened to a woman in rural
New York several years ago - it's unlikely they will ever
be found, said UW astronomy lecturer Toby Smith.

"If you recover a meteorite, it's a rare thing," said Smith,
a meteorite expert. Only six have ever been found in the
state of Washington, and none of those was from a meteor
that anyone witnessed falling. "They had probably been
lying around hundreds, if not thousands, of years," Smith
said.

Though 20,000 tons of space rock rain to Earth each year,
most is in the form of dust-sized grains that can create
shooting stars but almost always burn up before reaching
the surface. It's very unusual to have a large piece fall
near an urban area, Smith said.

Witnesses reported seeing the one-to-two-second
burst of light from as far east as Coeur d'Alene, Idaho,
as far south as Tacoma and well into British Columbia.

Most described the sound as a succession of booms,
followed by a long rumble.

At least one prankster also had his say, leading to some
early-morning confusion. A man calling himself
Bradley Hammermaster called a KIRO radio talk show
at 3:15 a.m. Claiming to be a UW astronomer, he said a
chunk the size of a car had hit near Chehalis. The
Associated Press distributed the report before realizing
it was a hoax.

Seattle police estimate up to 150 people called 911 to
report the event.

Schumpert, who was driving to work, considered dialing
the emergency line after she realized she wasn't being
teleported by the blue-white light, which was so
intense it illuminated rocks on the side of the road.

But she wasn't sure how to describe the phenomenon to police.

"I didn't know what the heck was going on," she said. "It
was so creepy."

Campbell was drinking a glass of water, gazing out his
kitchen window at the full moon.

"That's when the sky lit up," he said. He dropped his water
into the sink and yanked the blinds open. As the initial
flash faded, he saw the brilliant streak heading southeast.

"It was bluish green, then it went to red, then a total
fireball," he said. "It was absolutely stunning."

After his thought of nuclear war, he considered the
possibility of a plane crash.

Then he recalled his college science classes and decided
it must have been a meteor.

"In 45 years, I've seen a lot of things in the sky," he said,
"but nothing like this."

A spokeswoman for the North American Aerospace
Defense Command said the organization, which tracks
missiles, rockets and hostile aircraft headed for the
United States, was aware of the meteor but quickly
determined it wasn't a threat.

A check of all orbiting satellites and pieces of space
junk showed that none had re-entered the atmosphere,
said Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in
Washington, D.C.

"This was not a piece of space debris," he said. "This
happens to be a relatively small chunk of rock that chose
that particular time to run into the Earth."

Security cameras at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle
recorded the brilliant light flashing across the building
facades and parking areas, but didn't show the meteor's
trajectory through the sky. If any other cameras across
the region captured that, it may be possible to retrace
the object's path and learn more about it, said Wayne
Edwards, a doctoral student at the University of Western
Ontario who specializes in meteors.

Using video from a police car and military satellite data,
Edwards and his colleagues were able to piece together
details about a meteor that broke up over Chicago a year
ago, illuminating four states and raining 65 pounds of
fragments across the heavily populated area.

That meteor, Edwards estimated, was the size of a small
car when it entered the atmosphere.

Meteors are formed when bits break off asteroids, Smith
explained. They can be made of rock or iron minerals.

The bright glow is created as the rock hurtles through
the atmosphere, vaporizing as it goes and exciting air
molecules, which give off light. The booms and rumbles
are from shock waves or sonic booms generated as the
meteor slows and is eventually ripped apart by
atmospheric friction.

Campbell, who marvels at the lucky timing of his
early-morning drink of water, says the experience will
stay with him the rest of his life.

"I would pay to see that again," he said. "To sit there
and watch that."
Received on Fri 04 Jun 2004 11:53:03 AM PDT