Several years ago, in the evening of a summer's day my Family and I spotted an odd object in the Western Sky. It was falling, and appeared to be on fire. A closer look with some binoculars revealed that it was indeed falling and had flames trailing behind it. It was dark brown in the center, encased in orange flames, then encased in another layer of yellow flames. After several minutes of observing, we noticed the sun glint off of what appeared to be an aircraft, shortly followed by another. There were also contrails behind these aircraft, and they were moving quite fast. After a few more minutes, the object disappeared under the Horizon. I think it was probably some Space Debris. If it's of any use, I am in the 'thumb' of Michigan on the Eastern side close to Lake Huron.
What was it that I saw??? Falling space debris, maybe a downed satellite? Or, was it something extraterrestrial? I do, however, doubt the latter. If there is any other information that would be helpful, please let me know, and I will post it.


Thank you

An even stranger item perhaps...solidified feces from an airliner, attempting to dump it over the harbor? Or even a regular meteorite.

There are many things it "could" be, but due to the lack of independent control (i.e. it just fell)...the ET leap is not the logical one, as it doesn't fit the observed facts of your sighting, at least not as the most likely explanation.

I think that something falling from space would fall with a bigger velocity than that of something that falls from, for example, 30000ft.

For how long was this falling object seen?

Regardless, flaming aircraft dumps have often been reported as meteors.

For a funny (if disgusting) illustration, they even used it in at least one film, "Joe Dirt", hehe...

Originally posted by Gazrok
Regardless, flaming aircraft dumps have often been reported as meteors.

For a funny (if disgusting) illustration, they even used it in at least one film, "Joe Dirt", hehe...

Flaming aircraft dumps???? Just how exactly does crap start burning from falling through the air? And I don't think airplanes actually dump anything while in flight. This is like an urban legend I think. Seriously, who would allow planes to just dump all their crap on people? Just because their high up in the air doesn't mean that whatever thet dump just dissapears. It's going to come down and hit something or someone. That would be ubeliveably irresponsible...

They must dump it over water as I recall.... Still, this was simply an "out-there" solution, as most likely it was a standard meteorite. My point was that there may be other terrestrial explanations to consider first, even ones you wouldn't immediately consider, rather than an ET one.

"Flaming Aircraft Dumps" is a perfect name for a rock band.

It had a very slow velocity. It took several moments to get to the ground, which is why I think it might have been a downed satellite. I mean, they did purposely bring the Russian Space Station MIR down to the atmosphere to burn up. Or maybe like a shuttle or something returning to Earth. I have heard you can see those things for large distances in every direction.

Actually, an objects angle of entry relative to the viewer and the 'flatness' of its re-entry, can make an object appear to take quite a while to transit the sky. Also consider that as it travels further into the atmosphere its mass is reduced so that if it is traveling towards you, it can appear to maintain its size and volume.