PORTLAND, Ore. — Portlanders and other Oregon residents were treated to a rare sighting of a large meteor fireball late Monday night, according to hundreds of comments, posts and videos on social media.
"I was confused," said Eric, a Longview truck driver who witnessed the fireball and captured the sight on his dashcam. "It took me a few seconds to process it."
The fireball was visible for about five seconds to the south of the metro area, according to multiple videos and descriptions posted on Reddit, Facebook and Twitter. Many reports described it as green, with some users adding that they saw a yellow tail.
"It was quick, it was fast, and it was green," said Jim Todd, director of space science education at OMSI. "Green indicates that it was probably burning copper."
OMSI received reports from all over Oregon and Washington, including footage of the phenomenon captured by security cameras. The website for the American Meteor Society, where users can submit open-source reports of meteor sightings, logged more than 130 reports of a fireball in the sky between 10:45 p.m. and 11 p.m.
The majority of the reported sightings were in cities and towns throughout the western half of Oregon, but there were additional reports from as far north as Bellingham, as far south as Sacramento and as far east as Boise.
"This was fairly high up, about 60 to 80 miles above us," Todd said. "And it's about a meter wide, which is typical for a fireball."
Based on the reports, the American Meteor Society website estimated that the meteor was moving on a northwestern trajectory and became visible as it passed somewhere above the Umpqua National Forest about halfway between Eugene and Klamath Falls — though it's worth stressing that the underlying data is crowdsourced and not verified.
Anyone with footage of the phenomenon can help OMSI find the fireball's exact path by sharing the video with them online.
One thing that's certain: the event wasn't part of a regular meteor shower.
"A fireball is totally independent and random," Todd said. "They have been flown around in space for millions of years and then finally came to an end. Today, after existing for millions of years, it no longer exists."
Todd is encouraging anyone who witnessed or captured video of the fireball to send their report to the AMS Fireball Log at https://fireball.amsmeteors.org/members/imo/report_intro. He says this is the best way to determine the location and origin, adding reports like these are valuable to help determine reports of the fireball or meteor, and perhaps meteorite fragments, if any.
You can also send any videos or pictures to KGW's email at Newsdesk@kgw.com.