1998-09-23 - Renton, WA - Fireball

Green Fireball

I was driving southbound out of Renton, before the 212 exit, when I saw a brilliant blue-green (mostly green with a hint of blue.) ball of light with some yellow at the end of the tail. It was much bigger and much much brighter than any star, but smaller than the moon (maybe 1/6th to 1/8th the size of the moon. It looked like a bottle rocket except it was green and the angle wrong. It was traveling from East to West, coming down at about a 45 deg. angle. It lasted about 3 to 4 seconds. It looked like it landed in north Kent. It had all the characteristics and trajectory of a meteorite except it was a little slow for a meteorite, but I think that may be explained if it were moving toward or away from me. It did seem to be low in the sky (I could see it at the top of my windshield and it ended up about half way down on the right side. I have seen one or two like it before in my life except they were not green. It did not do anything funny like stopping or changing direction. I think the green comes from copper material in the meteorite burning up. My final conclusion: It was a meteorite. Probably the most spectacular one I've ever seen, certainly the most colorful. When I got home about 2145 I called my flight instructor and told him about it. Then I turned on my radio about 2218 and tuned into the Art Bell show and heard you guys talking about what I saw.