Fireball Reported All Over Northwest, Breaks Up Over Oregon Coast / Astoria

Published 08/31/2026 at 8:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Portland, Oregon) – At least 100 people in Washington and Oregon have chimed in saying they saw a major fireball in Pacific Northwest skies last night, happening at 8:32 p.m. This self-destructed about 33 miles above a famous Oregon coast town: Astoria. (Photo Kevin F. / AMS. See the video from Seattle)

This one was extremely bright, say scientists at the American Meteor Society. The event was also captured on three publicly accessible cameras in both states, allowing analysts to calculate its path.

It's like Goonies meets Star Trek IV.

According to that trajectory analysis, the meteor first appeared 52 miles above the western slope of Mount St. Helens. Traveling west at roughly 48,000 miles per hour, it covered about 80 miles through the upper atmosphere before breaking apart 33 miles above Astoria.

“This fireball was not associated with any meteor shower, and meteorites are not thought to have been produced when the object fragmented,” the AMS said.

Maps of sightings from AMS

It was photographed in Seattle, and reported from places like Portland, Vancouver, Tacoma, Gresham, Salem and Bend. See the video from Seattle

A fireball is essentially a meteor that – among other things – doesn't zip by quickly like a shooting star but instead falls rather slowly and extremely brightly.

Almost no one from the Oregon or Washington coast chimed in, except for two people slightly inland at Toledo and Cloverdale. No one from Astoria reported it to the AMS; the closest was Rainier.

AMS photo / video

Light blue, light yellow and some greens were often how it was described. Light blue or green would indicate magnesium, according to NASA.

“I saw it break off into 3 parts then disappear. I almost thought it was a firework,” said one witness on the AMS site.

What Oregon and Washington looked like about 8:32 p.m. (NOAA / GOES-18 satellite)

Jim Todd, astronomy expert for Portland's OMSI, explained more to Oregon Coast Beach Connection after staff saw two of these in a two-year period.

“Meteors, also known as shooting stars, are small celestial objects that enter the Earth's atmosphere,” Todd said. “A fireball is a particularly bright meteor that can be seen from a distance of about 60 to 80 miles above. As a meteor travels through the atmosphere at high speeds, it creates friction, which heats the meteor and causes it to vaporize.”

Experts say we're seeing so many now mostly because of so many ringcams and cellphones, and more ways of reporting them. So it's basically more eyes out there.

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