Meteor Shower Activity Increases May 5 & 6 with Particles from Halley’s Comet
by Loni Rahm, with information and photo from the American Meteor Society
Photo above: While attempting to capture Lyrid meteors, Wade Earle captured this double bursting fireball on the night of April 21/22, 2020. The familiar “W” of Cassiopeia lies to the lower right of the fireball. Mr. Earle was located on a rural bluff overlooking the Columbia River Basin, Oregon, USA © Wade Earle
Last Thursday, April 30, dozens of people from North Central Washington contacted LakeChelanNow to report hearing what sounded like a sonic boom and feeling a distinct shake. Dozens more told us they saw what looked like a fireball in the sky traveling in a northerly direction. (see below for some of the comments received by LCN)
LakeChelanNow has reviewed the official fireball reports for that time period on the American Meteor Society website and found there were 49 total reports from Washington, Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia on that particular event.
So if you heard it, felt it, or saw it — you certainly weren’t alone! If you were one of the 49 reports AMS has received, they would like to thank you! If you haven’t reported your experience yet, they would like to hear from you. It’s easy to report – just follow the directions on this link.
Interestingly, the fireball reporting log also shows 24 reports from Washington and Alberta, Canada on Saturday, May 2nd. And an astounding 86 reports follow a trail north from California on April 28th that included sightings/booms in Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
In all, the AMS has received 2,142 reports worldwide in 2020.
Although the sky isn’t literally falling, tiny particles do routinely hit the earth’s atmosphere creating a brief and brilliant showing of the resulting friction.
Look to the skies pre-dawn tomorrow
The next predictable show is the eta Aquariids which are visible annually in early May.
Editor’s note: there was an anticipated pre-dawn showing on May 5th and 6th this year, so I got up early this morning to watch. Unfortunately, we were buried in cloud cover. I will try again tomorrow.
There are two annual showers which are remnants from Halley’s comet – last seen in 1986. Although the comet itself won’t be visible again until 2061, the bits of ice and dust left behind over the past few millennia visit earth regularly — the eta Aquariids of May and the Orionids of October.
According to the American Meteor Society, the Orionids are the inbound particles of Halley’s comet while the eta Aquariids are the outbound particles. It should be noted that the particles we see as meteors separated from the comet many hundreds of years ago as the current orbit of the comet does not cross the orbit of the Earth.
More information about the American Meteor Society can be found on their website.
If you are as curious as I am about what’s up there….I recommend downloading the Skyview Lite app. You can get a real time view of stars and planets, satellites, constellations, the space station, and more.
Where were you around 1:30 p.m. on April 30th?
Here’s what several people told LCN they saw and felt:
- “Did anyone else see the ‘falling star’?? Appeared descending through the clouds north of downtown Chelan, at about 1:23 pm today. Multi-colored tail, it bursted, then dissipated just above the hills. Amazing!”
- “I saw it this afternoon from Chean but didn’t hear anything.”
- “Heard it! Just south of Winthrop. Super loud Boom. Wish I’d seen it.”
- “Here in Stehekin, at about 1:30, I heard a boom and felt a rumble. I saw that some folks in the Methow experienced something similar, and a friend in Ephrata saw a fireball. Anyone local hear, see, or know anything about what that was about?”
- And in response to the above comment: “I felt it. I thought possibly rock slide?”
- “I was driving and I saw it going north and it had a green tail!! I was in shock because it was daytime and it was going in and out of the clouds and then it like ??? flashed and disappeared!”
- And in response to the above comment: “I saw it over here in Yakima County, in White Swan. I can’t believe other people around the state saw the exact same thing!!! I’m genuinely ecstatic that people saw what I SAW!!”
- “I was outside doing yard work between Manson and Chelan, when I heard a boom and wondered what it could be. Sounds silly, but I thought it was like dynamite in the distance. Not the typical sonic boom.”
- “I live in Entiat and was working in my office when I saw the fireball and heard the impact. I saw the trajectory and swear the impact was closer to us and behind our neighbors home. We went last night to look for the impact location but were unable to locate it. Maybe it was further away than I thought.”
- “My name is S. I live in Mazama WA. Yesterday at almost exactly 1:25 pm my house shook violently. There were Whidbey NAS jets in the area earlier so I thought it was a sonic boom; but now with the report of a fireball seen, it certainly could be a meteorite hit?”
- “I was walking the river trail at the park in Entiat and saw it.”
- “I saw it but didn’t hear a sonic boom.”
- “We live in the Methow Valley near Mazama. We heard an extremely loud boom when outside on our patio and neighbors told us their houses shook. The noise seemed to come from the area North and East of where we live.”
- “There was an earthquake in Entiat just a bit ago. Loud boom there too.”
- “My husband and I heard what sounded like a sonic boom at 1:26 pm today when we were hiking up the forest service road on Sandy Butte in Mazama. I know the time is correct because my husband had just taken a photo of me then. Sorry there was no meteor in the photo, but we definitely heard it.”
If anyone else has comments about seeing, feeling or hearing this phenomena, please contact us at info@lakechelannow.com
Thank you for sharing your experience! Most of the above comments were originally made in an LCN public forum. However, we did not publish anyone’s name in accordance with our own privacy guidelines which includes specifically requesting your permission to be quoted in an article that isn’t an official press release or public meeting. Feel free to claim your comments when sharing this story in your personal communication.
