March 24 (UPI) — Experts in Oregon said a bright green fireball that lit up the early morning sky over the Pacific Northwest was a meteor burning up in the atmosphere.
Jim Todd of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry said the fireball was spotted across Oregon and Washington about 6:06 a.m. Monday.
“Meteors, also known as shooting stars, are small celestial objects that enter the Earth’s atmosphere,” Todd told KATU-TV. “A fireball is a particularly bright meteor that can be seen from a distance of about 60 to 80 miles above.”
The American Meteor Society also logged multiple reports of meteor sightings ranging from Portland, Ore., to Snohomish, Wash.
The OMSI said the fireball’s green hue was the result of the meteor’s magnesium burning up in the atmosphere.
“As a meteor travels through the atmosphere at high speeds, it creates friction, which heats the meteor and causes it to vaporize,” Todd said.