American Meteor Society
The American Meteor Society has received reports of a very bright fireball over the Oregon-Washington area occurring near 0314 am PDT on Monday morning July 25th. Of the reports received so far, yellow, orange, and white are the most mentioned color. Brightness estimates varied widely, ranging from a half illuminated moon to that of the sun. The AMS will post any video of this object should it become available.
In the AMS fireball table, refer to event #724 for 2011.
Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
i live in newberg oregon. my house faces almost due south. i was outside watching some thunderstorms towards the east in the cascades. then i noticed a mostly blueish fireball going from the southwest to the southeast. very beautiful. sorry i have no foorage. just an image in my brain. just wanted someone to know.
I was watching the lightening storm when I saw the fireball last night as well. It was yellow/orange with a white tail and pieces were breaking and sparking off. I figured that because of the lightening storm, there would be many more people watching the sky and therefore more reports of the event. I hope that someone got video!
So last night at about 3:15 -.3:20 Me and 2 other friends were hanging out on our rooftop where we like to drink and watch the sky for satellites or shooting stars on our days off, when observed the meteor from start to finish. At first sight it looked like a shooting star or satellite, leaving no trail behind it until it came into the atmosphere. We heard the very vague sonic boom as it went past, at this point sounding like a F-16 going through the sky. After it appeared to hit the atmosphere it began to leave a trail and became very bright looking like a fireball going through the sky. the sound continuted probably 5-10 seconds after it dissapeared. My guess was it traveled a good five to sixhundred miles across the sky. It appeared to have started from south-western skys of Oregon and looked to be heading north-east toward Washington or Canada. Yes it did look very big and powerful, but I think people are over exaggerating by saying it looked like the size of the moon, don’t get me wrong it was very big and amazing. If anyone has questions or and other info on it in regards to it hiting the earth please email me. mworrell17@gmail.com
It wasn’t just a Northwestern fireball….I live in San Antonio,tx. Around 1:00 am this morning I saw a large, bright fire ball in the sky with a long streak behind it that left a trail across the sky. It was pretty scary. I have never seen anything like it before.
So last night at about 3:15 -.3:20 Me and 2 other friends were hanging out on our rooftop where we like to drink and watch the sky for satellites or shooting stars on our days off, when observed the meteor from start to finish. At first sight it looked like a shooting star or satellite, leaving no trail behind it until it came into the atmosphere. We heard the very vague sonic boom as it went past, at this point sounding like a F-16 going through the sky. After it appeared to hit the atmosphere it began to leave a trail and became very bright looking like a fireball going through the sky. the sound continuted probably 5-10 seconds after it dissapeared. My guess was it traveled a good five to sixhundred miles across the sky. It appeared to have started from south-western skys of Oregon and looked to be heading north-east toward Washington or Canada. Yes it did look very big and powerful, but I think people are over exaggerating by saying it looked like the size of the moon, don’t get me wrong it was very big and amazing. If anyone has questions or and other info on it in regards to it hiting the earth please email me. mworrell17@gmail.com – Klamath Falls, Oregon
I was on my way to work in Olympia, WA. at 3:14am when a bright light appeared in the southern sky. The first color I noticed was bright green and yellow/orange. It lasted about 3-5 seconds and it looked like a spear. It would be really interesting to see it on video.
I was stargazing with my girlfriend in a field in the King City/Tigard area, when there was a bright flash across the sky to the south; my girlfriend noticed it first. It lit the sky up with a bluish light, and the meteor itself had a slightly greenish trail, and chunks were slowly coming off of it and fading, as it sailed across the sky from west to east. It was in the sky for at least 5-7 seconds. It looked like a firework.
It may have been around 8:30pm or 9pm, but I saw a bright white light in the southwestern sky of Norman, OK. The light was headed toward the ground quite a distance away but at an incredible speed. It lasted just a couple of seconds but it had a tail and the head of it was bright white. As it drew nearer to the ground the head of it turned to a bright blue then darker blue, like the color of a low flame. There was no sound. The light never grew dim or went out, it just dropped passed houses and trees to where I could no longer see it. I immediately jumped online to see if anyone else had reported the same sighting, but I haven’t found anything. It was one of the more incredible and peculiar sights I have seen coming from the sky.
I was directed to this site as I was looking for natural phenomena to explain a freakish display of lights in Albany with my husband and 12 year old husband we witnessed last night. We were sky-watching and it reminded me of cloud or heat lightning at first…But not really. I would really like to see video of this meteor.
12 Year old nephew, oops.
My wife and I were lying in bed and I was looking out the window at the stars and suddenly the room filled with bright light and I thought a cars headlights were causing it. Then the apparent meteor streaked right in the view out our window, facing north. We were at our vacation house in Three Rivers, 7-miles south of Sunriver, Oregon. The fire ball, about half the size of a full moon, and nearly as bright as the sun, moved fast from west to east. It appeared greenish and was breaking up. I wondered if would hit the ground somewhere east of Bend. I thought I saw secondary flashes, like lightening on the horizon, but heard nothing. I can’t believe there are no other reports, like in the local newspapers. This was the largest meteor I have ever seen!
I was at the Metolius river. About 3:00- 3:30 as i was sleeping in my travel trailer, I thought headlights were shining in my window. I realized this was odd since that window was facing away from any headlights. I got up and looked out the window to see a pumpkin-like fireball careening through the sky a little slower than a shooting star would travel. It had a tail that appeared to crumble behind it.
“Whoa! WWhoaa!”, I’m screaming not being able to unlock my door fast enough to see it thru.
Afterward, I observed what I thought resembled lighting flashes.
To my mind the thing seemed to be traveling south to north with the after “lightning” flashes to the north.
How cool to find all of you who share the story. You know..Maybe this internet thing isn’t too bad after all.
HEADS UP!!!
I saw about a 4 to 5 second fireball streak across the western sky around 11PM last night about 20 degrees high above the horizon. it was beyond anything I have ever seen or captured on camera. I live in Geneva IL. about 50 miles west of Chicago
My friend and I were out at the meadow at Soda Creek/Sparks Lake, beautiful clear night, perfect for a campfire and star-gazing….We were suddenly aware of an incredible luminosity that lit up the entire meadow, which is quite large. The light was greenish and beautiful, with a sparkly head and “components” that broke apart,almost in sequence, also shooting off sparks. It seemed like it lasted a long time,and left a trail for a bit. It was truly dazzling, and seemed very CLOSE, as we were up in the mountains, quite dark sky, 3:15 July 25. We both felt that we were seeing something quite astonishing and wondrous, unlike ANYTHING we’d ever seen before!
Sorry, I forgot to give coordinates, Sparks Lake is about 26 miles outside of Bend, in Central Oregon. We were in the Three Sisters Mountain Range, Cascade Mountains. Because there were no other competing light sources, the fireball “appeared” VERY low—about mid-height of the South Sister ….although in reality who knows! The image will be seared across my mind forever! Just WOW!
My friend and I were packing up to leave our campsite in the Cascades 25 miles outside of Bend Oregon at appx. 3:15 AM Monday July 25th when we beheld the meteor. We were at Sparks lake/ Soda creek campground at an elevation of appx. 5430 feet with a clear view of South Sister Peak (el. 10,358 feet)6 miles to the northwest of our position. The meteor came from the SSW and appeared to be very close and low on a horizontal trajectory, it did not appear to be arcing and also appeared to be at or below our sightline of South Sister’s summit. First the ground lit up with moonlight on steroids, the meteor looked like a yellow orange firey ball with chunks breaking off and brilliant sparkling bright green sparks shooting out from it and trailing behind it. It seemed so close and was absolutely brilliant. It was an amazing sight to behold.
I was driving north on Interstate 5 around 3:00 am on 7-25-11. I was just coming up on the Ca./ OR. Line. And there it was … the fireball heading west to east. Very bright with amazing colors, Blue, yellow and red. It appeared to be moving slower than any I have seen. Glad I was where I was at …. at the time. Wow what a site!
Thanks for your site.
John