A meteor burning up south of Victoria created a dazzling flash that was seen around Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and Washington State Wednesday night.
A video taken in Seattle and reposted by the Victoria-based Friends of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory shows the bright streaking light south of Victoria at around 10:18 p.m.
Ok, that was insane. Dead center screen, there had to be others that saw that monster #Meteorite #Washington #Seattle #Fireball 10:18pm looking west from Normandy Park, WA #Space pic.twitter.com/Mp8vKjsquD
— Michael Snyder (@SeattleWXGuy) October 13, 2022
Deeming the incredible sight a bolide, or bright meteor, the observatory said it likely broke up right over the Olympic Mountains on the U.S. side of the Juan de Fuca Strait.
The American Meteor Society said it had received a whopping 143 witness reports of the fireball as of Thursday morning, coming from as far away as Oregon and Abbotsford.
The celestial sight comes during the annual Orionids meteor shower, which occurs throughout October and November as Earth passes through the debris field left behind Halley’s comet.
The shower is expected to peak next week, between Oct. 21-22.
Have pictures or video of Wednesday night’s meteor? Send them to [email protected].
A streaking meteor seen from Surrey Wed, Oct. 12, 2022,/ (Ron Degner)
The bright flash as seen from Central Nanaimo. (Courtesy Vanessa Hetu)
Caught the #Meteor breaking up over puget sound pic.twitter.com/13EaIgcN9S
— I.R. FreeMan (@IR_FreeMan) October 13, 2022
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