StargateGirl
06-03-04, 08:51 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...rite_washington (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&e=1&u=/ap/20040603/ap_on_sc/meteorite_washington)
Science - AP
Possible Meteorite Reported in Wash.
37 minutes ago
Add Science - AP to My Yahoo
SEATTLE - Bright flashes and sharp booms were reported in the skies over the Puget Sound area early Thursday, and experts said a meteor or falling "space junk" may have been the source.
Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service (news - web sites) radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests.
Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said 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 away as Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 260 miles to the east, said the sky lit up brilliantly. Many reported booming sounds as if from one or more explosions.
"It made a pretty big bang," Petty Officer Andrew Davis said from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. "We thought it could maybe be a meteorite or something."
Ralph Gaume of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., said it could have been a meteor, but another possibility would be "space junk" such as spent rocket engines or satellites falling from Earth orbit.
Science - AP
Possible Meteorite Reported in Wash.
37 minutes ago
Add Science - AP to My Yahoo
SEATTLE - Bright flashes and sharp booms were reported in the skies over the Puget Sound area early Thursday, and experts said a meteor or falling "space junk" may have been the source.
Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service (news - web sites) radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests.
Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said 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 away as Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 260 miles to the east, said the sky lit up brilliantly. Many reported booming sounds as if from one or more explosions.
"It made a pretty big bang," Petty Officer Andrew Davis said from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. "We thought it could maybe be a meteorite or something."
Ralph Gaume of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., said it could have been a meteor, but another possibility would be "space junk" such as spent rocket engines or satellites falling from Earth orbit.