Updated
Updated · KXLY Spokane · Aug 14
Meteor Lights Inland Northwest Skies, Captured on Security Cameras Before 5 a.m.
Updated
Updated · KXLY Spokane · Aug 14

Meteor Lights Inland Northwest Skies, Captured on Security Cameras Before 5 a.m.

3 articles · Updated · KXLY Spokane · Aug 14

Summary

  • Security-camera footage from Spokane, Post Falls, Clarkston and other Inland Northwest communities showed a bright meteor streaking across the sky early Friday.
  • Videos poured in before dawn as the object burned through Earth's atmosphere, briefly lighting the dark sky across parts of Washington and Idaho.
  • Later reporting identified the fireball as an asteroid fragment about 16 inches wide and 170 pounds that traveled 36 miles at 33,000 mph before breaking apart.
  • NASA said the object was unrelated to the Perseids shower and released energy equal to about 10 tons of TNT, with more than 250 sightings reported across the Pacific Northwest.

Insights

Could the explosive fireball that recently rocked the Pacific Northwest hold the hidden building blocks of extraterrestrial life?
If a 170-pound asteroid can strike unannounced with the force of TNT, what larger threats are slipping past our detection systems?
Are the blinding flashes seen over the Pacific Northwest just a spectacular light show, or a cosmic delivery of ancient planetary secrets?