NUFORC Sighting 4502

Occurred: 1998-09-23 22:50 Local
Reported: 1998-10-04 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 3 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Bellevue, WA, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

White/green fireball falling slowly in vicinity of 405/520 interchange.

9/23/98, 22:50 hrs. Outside, while facing northwest of downtown Bellevue, WA a friend and I observed a white/green fireball drop from a high altitude then disappearing (not slowly burning out, but instantly "turning off") roughly 200 feet before hitting the ground and before it disappeared behind any structure or treeline. It "fell" at a rate faster than terminal velocity or any aircraft but nowhere close to that of any "falling star" that I or my friend had ever observed. We observed it from a high altitude and it became brighter and larger the closer it got to the ground. At the instance of its disappearance it was brighter than any firework, flare, or aircraft landing light and 1/4 the size of a full moon. Distance was the most difficult to judge. We "estimate" its distance 2 miles. Seemingly falling into/towards Lake Washington.

Posted 1998-11-01