Meteor reported following flashes, booms over Western Washington

[SoCalDem]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Meteor

Thursday, June 3, 2004 · Last updated 3:35 a.m. PT

Meteor reported following flashes, booms over Western Washington

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE -- Bright flashes and sharp booms were reported in the skies over the Puget Sound area early Wednesday, and an astronomy professor said a meteor apparently landed about 990 miles south of the city. Bradley Hammermaster, who teaches at the University of Washington, told KIRO Radio shortly after 3 a.m. PST a team was being assembled to head for the area where the meteor was believed to have hit near Chehalis.

Hammermaster said the meteor apparently was about the size of a small car and described it as a piece of the larger Trilene meteor.Bradley Hammermaster, who teaches at the University of Washington, told KIRO Radio shortly after 3 a.m. PST a team was being assembled to head for the area where the meteor was believed to have hit near Chehalis.

Hammermaster said the meteor apparently was about the size of a small car and described it as a piece of the larger Trilene meteor.

snip...

Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the sound from near Tacoma to Whidbey Island and as far as 100 miles to the east near Ellensburg said the sky lit up brightly shortly before 3 a.m. PDT, and many also reported booming sounds as if from one or more explosions.

snip....

Civilian pilots reported seeing the flash from Ellensburg, east of the Cascade Range, said an FAA duty officer who did not give her name. At Whidbey Island, Petty Officer Andrew Davis said he and other saw the skyburst."It made a pretty Big bang," Davis said. "We thought it could maybe be a meteorite (a meteor that has struck Earth) or something."

[Misunderestimator]

1. See? The sky really is falling. n/t

[arwalden]

5. :-)

[msmcghee]

11. I slept right through it.

Perhaps that's because 990 miles south of Seattle would put it at about Los Angeles.

[Johnyawl]

18. That was my thought, Mcghee...

...first the article states that it was 990 miles south of Seattle, then it says they're searching near Chehalis for it. Hmmmm....I think somebody "fat-fingered" that, and it should have read 90 miles south of Seattle.

[LosinIt]

2. No Hammermaster is known to the astronomy department

"A man who identified himself as University of Washington astronomy professor Bradley Hammermaster told KIRO Radio a team was being assembled to head for an area where the meteor was believed to have hit, but that call appeared to be a hoax, Smith said.

No one by the name of Hammermaster is known to the astronomy department, and the description given by the caller to the station of the object - an automobile-sized piece of a small car from a piece of the larger Trilene meteor - was clearly bogus, Smith added."


Checked the link and this is the last paragraph now. BFEE test? Dons tinfoil hat.

[soup]

3. Whoa! Was going to post that I hope there were no injuries

now I don't know What to say. Very weird.

[Don_G]

6. AP Checked

Issued a "Withhold" on the story quoting "unverifiable sources" and reissued it: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBXB2FS0VD.html

[ET Awful]

7. I'm going to venture a guess here. . . .

There's an old sci-fi novel called "Lucifer's Hammer" (by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell) about a comet hitting the Earth. In the book, the comet was officially called "Hamner Brown" but was dubbed "Hammer" by the press. I have an odd feeling that this "Hammermaster" has read that book :).

[Just Me]

10. What the hell?

What the hell.

How freaky.

[rfkrocks]

4. Cosmic S##T hits fan over Bush Presidency

Booming voice followed crash of meteor saying "will Bush stop using my name for sleazy politics-next time my aim will be better."

[Dover]

20. Lol! God throws like a girl? Hmmmmmm.......

..

[KansDem]

39. Perhaps God was aiming for DC but hit WA by mistake?

There seems to ALWAYS be confusion between Washington DC and Washington state.

[The Zanti Regent]

8. Has THE BLOB come for Bush?

One can only hope the BLOB is heading to Washington and eating every Neoconstipated fool in its path!

[TheBlob]

19. No plans as of today

I'll probably just kick back with a DVD tonight.

;-)

[RobertSeattle]

9. I heard it

Nearly fell out of bed - thought it might have been Rainier blowing.

Didn't set the flashes though - bummer!

[TheWebHead]

12. video

from a B&W camera in a parking lot... notice the change in light... typical of most of the state based on reports:

http://208.179.31.251/meteorlight.wmv

[Just Me]

15. That makes it appear as not merely one car-sized meteor,...

,...not that I have any idea what something like a meteor hitting earth would look like. But, there's more than one flash.

Very weird. Kinda' spooky.

<on edit - I thought a car-sized meteor(ite) could do some pretty heavy duty damage>

[Ediacara]

37. They played it twice

Which is why there are two flashes. Turn up your sound, it's taken from a news report and they just replayed the video, hence the two flashes.

Still extremely bright and unusual though....

[soup]

17. Thanks for the news shot, WebHead.

Wondered if any video would show up. Would something like this show up on radar at all?

-----

This is interesting - From May 21, 2004:

This extremely bright meteor was recorded on a number of allsky cameras at 2:44 AM, including one operated in Albuquerque by Sandia National Labs and by at least five of the DMNS allsky network cameras. No witness reports have been received yet, but because of the early hour the fireball occurred I do not expect it to have been widely seen.

This image shows the entire event as recorded by the Guffey School camera, approximately 126 miles east of the fireball.

The fireball exploded almost directly over Montrose, Colorado, and appears to have been brighter than another one over the same area in 2002. A brightness estimate from the cameras suggests an apparent magnitude at Montrose of about -13.4, two to three times brighter than the full Moon.
video and more:
http://www.cloudbait.com/science/fireball20040521.html

[demnan]

13. Yeah they've come for Bush

they just mistook Washington State for Washington, D.C.!

Who knew the Martians were bad with geography?

[Geo55]

14. flashes, booms

saw one go over when I was a kid....very impressive

[lumpy]

16. A meteor the size of a small car

might take out the whole Pacific NW. I heard some booming noises sometime after midnight which woke me up. Since a train was rumbling in the local area I thought it had something to do with that.

[TrogL]

21. Ok, that explains it

I saw several meteorites last night.

[ConcernedCanuk]

22. *ahem* - - Letter to God - it's Crawford - TEXAS!!!

.
.
.

"Although the path makes it appear that debris would fall over Montrose, the altitude of the breakup combined with high altitude winds that evening make it likely any strewn field produced would actually lie about 12 miles to the northeast, between Montrose and Crawford."

http://www.cloudbait.com/science/fireball20040521.html

Please adjust your coordinates appropriately

Thanking You in advance.

Respectfully yours,

Earth

[LizW]

26. God: "Doh!"

;)

[jmcgowanjm]

23. Operation Blinding Storm

Seven US Carriers Put
To Sea At Same Time

(Norfolk) a local television station in Norfolk reports that a total
of seven carrier strike groups are putting to sea in June - which
if I'm not mistaken is an unprecedented move: "While the
Navy won't say where the seven carrier groups are going,
the carriers not already deployed are expected to be gone
for only one to two months."  Story (RealPlayer needed) at

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1902088&nav=23iiNU2h

May 29, 2004
Canadians participate in major U.S.-British naval exercise

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/05/29/pf-478516.html

T-199.80..:-5-004.1.887(993.56)ETA:-24:34.INC
T-005.83..:-5-004.3.733(447.34)ETA:-05:51.INC
T-003.48..:-6-004.5.735(693.72)ETA:-10:37.INC?

MDC:-DIA=1.43..AU VEL as follows:-0.000234 LS
:-0.000138 LS
:-0.000319 LS

PTOI 1.9558.56 WE 10098.56 SE TTI+ETA(^&.99)
ETS SH=27/6/04? Tracking VEL US at this time.
PROJECTED POA UNKNOWN

T-199.80..:-5-004.1.887 INBOUND AT (sec.com) NAV 335.78+09.456(EMP=.0045) PSM.0012.

What does this mean?

T-199.80..:-5-004.1.887(993.56)ETA:-24:34.INC
T-005.83..:-5-004.3.733(447.34)ETA:-05:51.INC
T-003.48..:-6-004.5.735(693.72)ETA:-10:37.INC?

T- Countdown?, ETA-Est. time Arrival?, INC-Incoming?

[Mrs. Overall]

24. It woke me up! I thought there were bombs going off

somewhere. It sounded like many small explosions or sonic booms--my house even rattled just a bit (I live across the Sound from Seattle). I had the feeling it was something strange!

On Edit:
I also live between Whidbey Island Naval Airstation and Fort Lewis and earlier in the evening I could hear the constant drone of military aircraft being moved. This happened right before we invaded Iraq. So when I heard the small explosions later, I wondered if they were connected to the military

[shanti]

28. as i mentioned previously

there has been a lot of helicopter movement here in sacramento the past couple of nights too....strange....

[progressivebydesign]

30. I'm in Gig Harbor, WA

Being so close to all those bases, you DO hear a variety of thuds and booms. I assumed that was what I heard last night.. Hi fellow Puget Sounder :hi:

[Mrs. Overall]

34. Hi Gig Harbor!

I'm in the North Kitsap area, so we're neighbors!

Last night between about 10pm and 11pm there were many continuous aircraft noises that definitely did not sound like commercial or private planes. It made me wonder what all the movement is about. I know we hear military planes/helicopters often in our area, but it just seems like there has been an increase in the past few days.

[Kitsune]

25. DAMMIT, I always miss neat stuff like this... *nt*

[radwriter0555]

27. That was bush's head exploding with the reality that his admin is HISTORY.

n/t

[progressivebydesign]

29. It woke me up!

I'm over the Puget Sound from Tacoma. Something woke me and the dog up simultaneously, then all the dogs in town. My husband would have slept through it if the dog hadn't barked.. then, came the rest of the booms... Wish I had gone outside to see the light. The night was exceptionally clear, it would have been a sight. Glad it didn't hit in a city...

[ilovenicepeople]

31. Chemtrails pretty heavy over Vancouver Island

I was watching all the Chemtrails over eastern Van. Island yesterday,It made me wonder if this is connected to last nites (METEOR?)Today there are some realy wierd cloud formations in the sky even what looks like a line of cloud doughnuts(a pulse engine?)Has anyone seen this wierd formation before? I dont mean to HARRP about it but I have a strange feeling the are connected. I was wondering if its possible to take the blue pill after you have already taken the red one? TRUTH SUCKS!:scared:

[gauguin57]

32. E&P: Meteor report a hoax

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000524192


AP Meteor Crash Report Was a Hoax

By Joe Strupp

Published: June 03, 2004 12:20 PM EST

"NEW YORK Associated Press editors were forced to retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster, claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated a hoax.

" "An early report that a meteor might have hit turned out to be false," said AP spokesman Jack Stokes. "It looks like a version (of the story) was killed because it talked about a meteorite hitting." He said AP was reviewing how the error occurred. ..."

[Minstrel Boy]

33. A source was a prank call, but the story isn't a hoax.

Something lit up the night sky and made awful loud boom-booms.

[progressivebydesign]

44. The Hum.

Okay.. since you mentioned the chemtrails, so I was wondering.. do you hear "the hum" up there? That is something I just discovered moving here to the Pacific Northwest. Never heard it before anywhere.. but it's here.. and I guess in Taos, NM.. and other places. Freaky things in the atmosphere right now.. that project in ALaska.. HAARP? HARRP? Where they're microwaving the upper atmosphere, Tessla redux, funded by the military.. was supposed to be fully ramped up this year, and the hum was wailing for several days last week.. just stopped yesterday for a while.

No, I'm not crazy, I'm not a :tinfoilhat: It's just a wierd phenom, this "hum" thing, and it seems to have reached a crescendo lately, and now this.

[Lisa]

45. the Island has lots of weird cloud formations ...

I've lived here for more than a decade, and have seen lenticulars, mammary clouds, and all kinds of cool shapes. Old-timers tell me that this has always been the case (hilly topography and strong summer heating?). It seems to predate the chemtrails/HAARP stuff.

[Barrett808]

46. Woke me and my wife up, here in Seattle

House shook a little, continued for several seconds. Thought it was an earthquake.

[Mrs. Overall]

35. Seattle NPR is reporting that a meteor the size of a computer monitor

was tracked by some agency out of Washington DC and is said to have disintegrated over Western Washington between 2:45 am and 3:00 am this morning. Apparently they do not think any debris hit the ground.

A local weather expert was also on the air saying that the flash of light and explosions woke him up and that he "was very concerned as to what had happened."

[0007]

36. This is indeed quite interesting

[jobendorfer]

38. flashes & booms? happens all the time up here

We just assume it's Schwarznegger farting in California.

J.

[Mike Niendorff]

40. saw it and heard it :)

Up late, couldn't sleep, got lucky :) And, man, that flash was *bright*. *Much* brighter than any meteor I've ever seen before. At first, I honestly thought that a transformer had blown nearby -- except the color was more white-ish than the the kind of electric blue you see from that kind of thing. And brighter.

I sometimes go up into the Cascades to catch the Leonids, and I've seen some bright meteors as part of that shower, but nothing even close to that one last night. The concussion sounded like someone lighting off a battery of fireworks in the distance (I've heard meteor-concussions before, but this wasn't just one concussion, it sounded like about 20, in rapid sequence).

Anyway, very cool. Definitely worthy of the news attention it's getting :)


MDN

[progressivebydesign]

43. Wierder yet..

My Mom lives a few hours away from me. She's on Whidbey Island. She never sleeps (Hi MOM! Take a nap! :hi:), anyhoo.. she said that her windows were open, and each time it boomed, the curtains would suck into the windows.. Does THAT sound meteoric to you? Doesn't to me, either. We do get all kinds of flashes and booms around here.. I just attributed the booms to night maneuvers or something nearby.

We did have a similar flash and one boom in the autumn here in Gig Harbor at night. The police station was flooded with calls, but nothing was ever blamed for it.

[Mike Niendorff]

47. depends how low and how fast it was, I suppose.

There's been talk on the news that some of the concussion were actually sonic booms, due to the speed of the object as it entered the atmosphere and burned up. Also, there is film of the meteor itself (see NWCN) reflected in the windows of a parked car and caught on a security cam. From the tape they broadcast, it broke up into three pieces as it came down, each a very, very bright fireball. Nothing sinister about it, imho, just one of those rare natural occurances that some of us were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of :)


MDN

[oklahomapride]

41. A Sure sign that shrub is going DOWN! n/t eom

[Fridays Child]

48. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Sufi Marmot]

42. I think I saw the flash....

Sometime between 2:30AM and 3:00AM I was drifting off to sleep and was startled by a really bright flash of light - I first thought it was a car turning into the alley but there was no sound - by the time I looked out the window it was over.... :shrug:

-SM, in Vancouver, BC

[Tripper11]

49. I was driving to work on I-405 at 2:40 when......

FLASH!!!!! It was wild. Freaked me out!
I got into town and stopped at a gas station for a muffin for breakfast and very gingerly asked the young attendant if he may or may not have seen some type of flash. he flipped out! "Yeah dude, it was HUGE, lit the whole fucking sky up!!!!"
Thank goodness, kinda thought I was nuts there for a minute. I didn't hear a boom, or any noise though.
I work in a TV newsrooom and the scanners were going apeshit! The police departments were calling us instead of us calling them asking what happened etc.
10 hours on the phone, trying to get any information. Lots of citizens had lots to say, various descriptions of what they heard and saw.
Spoke with someone in Vancouver BC and there were reports of the sky lighting up as far west as Cambell River on the Island, and as far east/north as Merrit BC.
Interestingly enough, all our military contacts and other "officials" governmental wise didn't have much to say.
Nothing on any radar anywhere during that time period.
Strange days indeed!
I am freaking exhausted..breaking news all day.