Northern Lights over West Seattle tonight? Not likely. But – did you see the ‘meteor’?

9:39 PM: Lots of questions about whether we have a chance of Northern Lights tonight, after their more-or-less no-show last night. Short answer seems to be “probably not.” We’re working late as usual and if that changes – we’ll update here.

But another sight in the sky has people abuzz from British Columbia to California – what’s believed to have been a meteor, streaking across the sky around 8:20 pm. We received one note even before noting the chatter on social media; Karen e-mailed to say, “Did you see that huge green meteor about five minutes ago? We just happened to be at the window as it came down.. have never seen one that big.” Anybody else? We’re looking around for images and info, and will update.

10:08 PM: We’ve put quotes around “meteor” since nobody is certain yet what it was – could also have been re-entering “space junk.” If you saw it, you can report it to the American Meteor Society (go here); its website shows the reports that have come in so far.

Susan g September 13, 2014 (9:49 pm)

We saw it! We just happened to be outside with our neighbors when it was streaking across. Incredible!

junctioneer September 13, 2014 (10:00 pm)

We saw something while crossing I90 westbound. No pictures. I can’t find much info on it and thought it was a firework until this WS post. We thought it was going straight down, not east to west as some are reporting (we mistakenly thought it was a firework descending on Leschi area).

WSB September 13, 2014 (10:03 pm)

I’m adding links to the National Meteor Society – they have many reports – but they are of course cautious to call such reports a “fireball” – you never know if it was a meteor, space junk, etc. – Tracy

Art Moore September 13, 2014 (10:00 pm)

My wife and I saw it near Raft Island, in the Gig Harbor area. It was to the west — a green fireball that looked like it was dropping straight down. There was no sound.

northernlights September 13, 2014 (10:09 pm)

Lucked into seeing it at artist point around quarter past 8. Bright white/yellow ball with a sparking trail, traveling south to east not too far above the horizon.

Robin September 13, 2014 (10:10 pm)

I thought it was a firework!

Michelle September 14, 2014 (12:34 am)

We saw it in Victoria BC. Walking along the Harbour. So cool.

Alice September 14, 2014 (12:43 am)

Re-entry of space junk (unless it is a spacecraft that is going to land or splashdown) still counts as a meteor or a fireball. The edge-case definitions of these terms (as well as bolide) are ill-defined, especially as they impact a variety of scientific disciplines: meteorology, astronomy, spaceflight, and geology.
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There is a bitty bit of a couple meteor showers going on right now, so I suspect that’s what it was. The top two right now are called the September Epsilon Perseids and the September Iota Cassiopeiids. A tiny shower as showers go, but that’ll be most of what we’ve been seeing.
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Glad you all saw a good one!

WestSide45 September 14, 2014 (2:25 am)

Saw it at 8:22 pm, according to the clock in the car. I was going about 60 mph northbound on I-5 near Stanwood. It was out the driver’s side window for three to four seconds, at approximately the same position in the window for its duration.
Awfully cool (“cool” is a term from the ’70’s).

Kat September 14, 2014 (2:42 am)

Saw a sm quick flash of light moving, thought it was a shooting star. Think it was either at 11:30pm or just after midnight. Had been going out about every 30 min or so sicne midnight. Sill no Norhtern lights here in Lake Stevens, its now 2:41am

Carl K. September 14, 2014 (7:31 am)

The time was 20:16 and the direction was in the W.N.W., or over the Olympic Mtn when viewed from W.S. The path was almost vertical (from my vantage point, though it may in fact be traveling to, or from my location). The object appeared to travel much slower than a typical “shooting start”. The duration of the siting must have been from three-to-four seconds. The object appeared to brake up into smaller parts that trailed behind the main object. The event ended as the object neared and angle to the horizon of perhaps 10 degrees. At this time. the glow abruptly ended.

Granny666 September 14, 2014 (8:00 am)

I saw it as well. Was on my porch (near the Junction) reading and saw it while facing west. Was falling almost straight down. Was very bright and fairly large – I thought it was a flare or skyrocket decending a couple blocks away – but there was no noise or smoke trail (although there was a light trail). Largest meteor I’ve seen. Maybe it was space junk? Pretty cool!

Lisa B. September 14, 2014 (9:13 am)

My husband and I saw it while driving home from Southcenter at about 8:20. It moved slowly with a bright blue trail, it was so bright. There was a hill in front of me so I was thinking that it was closer than it was, and was worried that it was going to take out the McMicken Heights Safeway or something because it didn’t look like it was going to burn up. Apparently it was way bigger than I thought since there were sightings along the entire West Coast. Cool!

Sheryl September 14, 2014 (11:33 am)

We saw it in Seattle!

Kevin September 14, 2014 (12:38 pm)

Saw it from Mukilteo looking west, starting almost due west at 45 degrees elevation ending northwest at about 20 degrees elevation about 8:20 pm against the remains of the sunset. Lasted maybe 4 seconds, bright bluish-green trailing gold sparks, very like a Roman candle.

Natasha Redding September 14, 2014 (1:34 pm)

Eight if us saw a blue-green light trailing object falling from the sky last night (0913/2014) in Kirkland . We initially saw it start about 45degrees up from the horizon, due west of Kirkland, falling almost straight down, slightly northward.
Then it flashed and disappeared about ten degrees above the horizon. One person thought there was a bright orange spot in the center of the ball when it extinguished.

Cheryl September 14, 2014 (2:20 pm)

We saw it about 8:20 from our porch in Gig Harbor. It looked like a red fireball, heading straight down. The last meteor I saw went across our line of view, which made the straight, vertical descent of this one seem unusual. No tail, no noise, just a red fireball.

Julia September 14, 2014 (2:48 pm)

I saw it looking from Fauntleroy ferry area toward Lincoln Park. Definitely blue-green, with some orange. No sound, except another passerby shouting with excitement.

Alex September 14, 2014 (7:29 pm)

I saw it heading out of my friend’s house in Ballard in Seattle. It appeared blue-green, and larger and slower than a shooting star, but way faster than an airplane ought to be moving. It went straight down, and I swear a saw it blink/flash at least once like an airplane might, which confused me. No sound.

Holly September 14, 2014 (7:50 pm)

We are in Maple Ridge,BC on the outskirts of Vancouver. Talking to hubby in the driveway and he says ” Look ! Look up ! ” of course I looked the wrong way so he says West, West ! I turned just in time to see a huge green fireball ( with a tail, ) streak across and downward to the west. Incredible and a once in a lifetime sight.

Birds September 14, 2014 (10:58 pm)

http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2014/09/northern-minnesota-fireball-meteor.html?m=1

Blondeleader September 15, 2014 (12:08 am)

We saw it in Abbotsford as well😄

Robert Mester September 15, 2014 (5:19 am)

AT 0434 facing Mt Rainier a large, the largest I have ever seen, object streaked through the sky heading south and suddenly exploded in a blue green fire ball. It was spectacular.

Sam September 15, 2014 (1:30 pm)

I saw it on my estate it was cool

krl September 15, 2014 (2:58 pm)

i saw it! i thought i was going crazy or that it was a firework! AMAZING!!

Tingley September 16, 2014 (2:35 am)

Dude I have never seen anything like that ! that was amazing! I first thought I might be a meteor cause it started to look like the video of the Russian meteor but was like ” NAH No way was a meteor I was walking west on Mercer st, Denny regrade area and from my Angle it looked like a crazy fire work that shot out from the space needle, it was the strangest thing ever! It was strange! I listening for sound, and nothing , and I I’m not sure what to think of it all, once in a life time!

MsLily September 16, 2014 (10:10 am)

Sat, 9/13/14 approx 8:20pm: Was backing into driveway, facing west from Mukilteo. If my granddaughter hadn’t been in the car and had also seen it, I would’ve thought I was seeing things. It was bright glowing green. Thought it was a firework & expected it to ‘boom’ …but it didn’t. Started as a ‘ball’ but as it fell (and this could be because of the curve of my windshield) it appeared to ‘become’ boomerang like, but still glowing bright green. Exceptionally beautiful & a sight I’ll never forget. We’ve been referring to it as the UFO (unidentified falling object). So glad to read other reports !

Chris September 18, 2014 (1:32 am)

I definitely caught sight of the fireball and it was due west. I was attending the Mariner game at the time and was in a suite with my family. I was the only one to catch it and it was out of my view fairly quickly. It looked exactly like a firework but was much larger and was definitely descending. Again, from that ballpark it was pretty much west.

Coby & Bruce in Bothell, WA September 18, 2014 (1:15 pm)

We were having dinner outside at our home in Bothell, WA. We happened to be facing west when about 8:20pm on Saturday the 13th, we saw a slow moving beautiful blue/green streak in the sky moving east to west without any sound… Then the front of the “meteor” which was heading west towards the earth became a brillant orange/red fire ball before it disappeared from our view over the top of the tree line. Amazing site to see! I am glad that we had a chance to view it. We were wondering if anyone else had witnessed this, glad I came across this website!

pj September 19, 2014 (1:02 am)

I saw it in Tiburon , CA
It was about 8:10 pm

Violet & her Grandma September 29, 2014 (3:58 am)

We saw it as I was backing into our driveway in Mukilteo. We are up top on the hill just off 92nd. The time was about the same that
others have posted, 8:20’ish.
If my granddaughter hadn’t seen it too, I would have thought I was seeing things. Didn’t think anyone would believe me.
What we saw was bright, bright green, round, it seemed to be falling into the trees, I didn’t think it was out far enough to be going into the water. I didn’t see any tail, nor did I see a flash (my first thought was that it was a firework and I was waiting for it to explode)
Very cool thing to have shared with my 11 yr old granddaughter!!!

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