Meteor Lights Up Night Sky Over Pacific Northwest [Watch]

KEY POINTS

Many people shared footage of the fireball spotted over the Pacific Northwest
Videos show a bright, blue-green light streaking across the sky
Even a police dash cam captured a video of the event

A meteor lit up the night sky over the Pacific Northwest and many were luckily able to capture the spectacular event.

The sight of a bright blue-green meteor streaking through the sky awakened a quiet weekday evening as people across the Pacific Northwest caught a glimpse of the stunning event Wednesday, reported KIRO7. Sighting reports came in from across Washington, Oregon and even British Columbia.

It reportedly happened around 10.18 p.m. PT (1.18 a.m. ET). One user who shared footage of the event said, “This flash in the Seattle sky at 10.18 p.m. woke me right up. Meteor? Satellite?” The user tagged the National Weather Service in Seattle and the agency confirmed that it was a meteor.

This flash in the Seattle sky at 10:18pm woke me right up. Meteor? Satellite? That Astros homer finally returning to Earth? (Sorry)

Any ideas @NWSSeattle ?

(Located in West Queen Anne. Ignore the camera light’s blue reflection on my window glass.)

#meteor pic.twitter.com/0Rq8DBmVTn

— Jack Clemens (@jack_clemens) October 13, 2022

Many others also captured the event from places like Normandy Park, Bonney Lake and Issaquah in Washington.

Their cameras captured the bright meteor as it appeared, brightened up the evening sky in a flash, then faded again.

Some skygazers even captured the moment with dash cams. One dash cam footage showed the meteor in “perfectly sync” with the music played in a car, making for a rather unique view of the event.

Even a police dash cam caught a glimpse of the event, with the object appearing just as the car turned into a street.

“On 10/12/22 around 10.16 p.m., Sgt. Liden was returning to the Lincoln City Police Department and captured a meteor with his dash camera,” the Lincoln Police Department said in a Facebook post. “The meteor emitted a bright green light and looked similar to a flare in the sky.”

So what was it that caused the “fireball” event? Don Brownlee from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington told KIRO7 that it might have been a piece of rock from a comet or asteroid.

Sometimes, pieces of rock fall to the ground during such events. However, there are often reports of sonic booms when chunks of rock end up surviving the crash, Brownlee said. Since there weren’t any reports of a sonic boom Wednesday, it’s quite likely that “only dust survived.”