[ENVR] Amazing sight in night sky

We just saw the most amazing sight in the night sky that I have ever seen!! Dh, dd and I were driving home from a company dinner in a town about 20 miles away. We were in the country with few lights and it was dark. My daughter saw it first and asked what it was. I first thought it was a shooting star -- looked like a bright light with sparklers falling off of it. Then in grew huge and looked like a giant fireworks.

It was long with tails, sparkly and kinda transparent like a fireworks -- a golden orangish color. The most amazing thing is that it moved VERY SLOWLY across the sky basically W to E. It was huge and fell very slowly to the horizon and the color faded as it fell, but was still there when it went out of sight.

We thought maybe it was a meteor shower. It seemed to have a bright ball with lots of trailing showering lights following it. The longer it went the brighter it got . I just remember it was moving so slow. We finally pulled off the road and watched.

Where would I go for info on astronomy, etc.? Could it have been the shuttle? It was huge and was in our atmosphere.

I do know I will never forget seeing this beautiful sight!!

It sounds like you saw a fireball. A meteor large enough not to be burned up as soon as it enters the atmosphere. My wife saw one several years ago. She said it looked very close, but really it was probably over another state when she saw it.

<i>it moved very slowly</i> ... Just how slowly do you mean? For example, can you estimate how long it took to cross a given part of the sky or the horizon?

I am asking in order to try to narrow the range of possible explanations. Most of that range are relatively innocuous. One or two are decidedly a whole lot more interesting.

R

Edited due to just noticing the <a href="http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15001">ufo thread...please disregard my questions above. R.

Redeye, this was nothing like what was described in the ufo thread. It was not cigar shaped and was not green.

We discussed this and think it took at least 1 minute for it to move across the sky. It was just a little east of overhead when we noticed it and it moved clear out of sight on the western horizon. We are in the desert, so there is not any interference from trees.

Just read the thread at Freepers and it sounds like the same description as mine. Like a comet with a long tail. Could be a satellite or other debris re-entering the earth's atmosphere or a comet. The sparkling trail is pieces that fall off and follow it. It was a beautiful sight.............

I just posted on the UFO thread, but the info may be pertinant here, also.

In SW MO many people called authorities and media to ask about lights that they saw in the sky at 10 p.m. The official report from the weather service says that the lights were from a falling satellite.

Hubby and I didn't get to see the lights, but when we turned the radio on (we were on our way home) the d.j. kept giving the explanation between every song.

Since this report, the Oklahoma report, and the Missouri report all seemed to occur around 10 p.m., it would seem feasible that they are all related.

In a college psych class I took, the professor gave a demo to show how fallible eye witness reports could be. In our class many people reported different things even though we all witnessed the same event.

Just a thought.

A large meteor, say about the size of a basketball, moving through the upper atmosphere looks like that, especially if it is dust held together by ice (possibly methane ice). If it were going 20,000 MPH, that would be 40 times as fast as an airplane. But being ten times as high it would appear to move only 4 times as fast as an airplane, which would look fairly slow, as you described. Actually, it could be going 100,000 MPH and still look fairly slow if it is not directly overhead.

wow. i missed it! here is the ptb take on what you saw.


Space Debris Suspected as Source of Light Show That Sent Brilliant Streaks Across Sky in Midwest

The Associated Press
Published: Dec 2, 2001

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Streaks of brilliant light that were spotted from Texas to Nebraska on Saturday night apparently were caused by space debris breaking up, authorities said.
A dispatcher at the Kansas Turnpike Authority in Wichita said callers reported the lights from the Oklahoma border to near Kansas City.

In Hastings, Neb., meteorologist Larry Wirth of the National Weather Service said callers described a bright light that crossed the horizon from southwest to northeast and broke.

"People said it appeared to break up into about 30 little balls, with tails, more or less like fireworks," Wirth said.

Wirth said NORAD - the North American Air Defense Command - reported to the Federal Aviation Administration's regional center in Minneapolis that some kind of space debris had broken up in the atmosphere.

NORAD monitors satellites and space debris that re-enters the atmosphere.

The Associated Press received telephone calls about the lights from Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Enid, Edmond, Owasso, Shawnee and McAlester, Okla. Broadcasters reported that the lights were seen as far away as Denison, Texas.

Witnesses in Oklahoma reported seeing three or four long streaks of light moving across the sky. They said the streaks appeared to produce sparks as they moved.

In Topeka, weather service meteorologist Matt Wolters said such light shows are not uncommon when space debris enters the atmosphere.

But Saturday night's display was noticed over such a wide area because the night sky was especially clear, Wolters said.

AP-ES-12-02-01 0241EST

Good Morning Connie!

Wish I could have been there! Here's a website that asks for descriptions of what you saw. It helps them determine the path and speed of the object (just scroll down to the introduction):

http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs.html

The person that keeps track of all these is a graduate student. He then posts a list here:

http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball/fireball_log.html

I'm sure he would appreciate the information.

Good morning Connie,

If you are who I think you are, welcome back and the plant is doing fine. My e-mail is the same, or PM me from here.

Bluehawk

Morning, Connie. My husband and I saw a similar spectacular event in British Columbia's Lower Mainland area about four years ago. The difference is there were about 4 or 5 pieces with sparks trailing. It was quite a beautiful site. It was more space junk entering the atmosphere. Who'da thought garbage could be so beautiful!