Scientists Wednesday were trying to determine whether a fireball that streaked through the sky Tuesday morning landed in Oregon or Washington.

Portland State Professor Dick Pugh began interviewing witnesses who saw the meteor fall and is trying to establish a radius around a possible impact site. He said the chances of finding any remnants of the space rock are slim, but there's already evidence that something may have hit the ground.

One of the leading experts on Northwest meteorites, Pugh is now working around the clock to find proof of impact.

Pugh said the meteor tracked west to east with reports of sonic booms in Cascade Locks, Hermiston, Pendelton and even a thud-like sound in Kennewick.

"When you start getting them coming in where they hear sonic booms, then you're in the neighborhood,” Pugh said.

 Poll: Did you see it?

Read/share comments

The sonic booms indicate at least a portion of the meteor survived entry into earth's atmosphere, slowing from 50,000 miles an hour to just 4,000.

If fragments made it to earth's surface, they'll be fairly recognizable.

“Fusion coating is rarely thicker than your fingernail and slightly attracted to a magnet,” Pugh said.

He believes that if there is one, the impact area is likely somewhere outside Pendleton.

There is a report of an actual impact sighting made by a private pilot. He claimed to see the meteor hit in a section of Adams County, Washington, northeast of Kennewick. No evidence of a crater has been found, however.

The meteor was seen across a wide area of the Pacific Northwest early Tuesday, including the Portland Metro area.

A Federal Aviation Administration duty officer in Seattle confirmed that the streaking light in the sky was a meteor. It was described by many as a "large fireball" and was spotted in Vancouver and Portland around 5:30 a.m., as well as Seattle, Spokane, Wash. and areas as far away as Boise, Idaho.

 Slideshow: Timelapse from Providence helipad

 Photos: Submit/view your meteorite pics

Some said it resembled summer lightning, a rocket, a satellite or an exploding transformer. Others actually reported hearing a sonic boom and said it rattled their windows.

"This fireball was moving from the west to east," said OMSI Planetarium Manager Jim Todd. "When a solid object enters the Earth's atmosphere, it interacts with air molecules, heats up to over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and begins to glow. The incandescent object is called a meteor."

He went on to explain that when a meteor is brighter than the planet Venus, it is called a fireball.

"A bright fireball will produce meteorites on the ground. A fast fireball can last for a few seconds and even break up into pieces," Todd added.

The phones started ringing at KGW-TV and comments started flooding into kgw.com from viewers who got the rare opportunity to see a meteor.

"The fireball was surprisingly large with a bright green tail and spewing a trail of sparks. It did indeed, look like a 4th of July fireworks mortar, except coming down instead of going up," one excited viewer wrote. "The most interesting thing to me was a brilliant white flash on the horizon in the instant before the object went over the horizon."

Q&A: What's the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?

Blog: Excitement over a flash in the sky

Flying fireball also spotted in 2005

A similar event happened back in 2005 over the Pacific Northwest. A fireball was spotted streaking through the sky on the 15th of March.

 More: Details about 2005 meteor

Exclusive home video shared with KGW was taken near Medford and showed a bright ball speeding through the air.

That meteor was likely about the size of a basketball and likely landed in the Pacific Ocean, experts said.

Spy satellite related? No

In the most recent incident, some KGW viewers called Tuesday morning, asking if the flash in the sky might be debris from the Pentagon's shooting down of a broken spy satellite. But that won't actually happen until Wednesday at the earliest.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration wants to fire a missile from a U.S. Navy cruiser, and shoot down the satellite before it enters Earth's atmosphere.

 More: Details on spy satellite

Otherwise, there were fears that parts of the satellite could hit the earth.