I live in Southern New Jersey and while sitting at a traiffic light on Washington Ave and Route 30 between 17:30 and 17:45 hours I saw a very bright orange streak of light race across the sky, My vehicle was pointed west waiting for the light to change and it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen, So surreal.. It left a long streak and was very very orange and bright, It never touched down because it seemed to just burn up or that is what it seemed like to me to me, Ive seen so many shooting stars before and I know for a fact it was not that. I have not been able to find any information on this and I know I cant be the only one to see this..I would assume it was a meteor or meteorite. I just wanted to share this because it was just beautiful and so damn elegant the way it streaked across the sky and disappeared and Im hoping that somebody saw this besides me.........

It does sound like a meteorite! Sounds like it would have been amazing to see it! Could be santa fitting into the christmas spirit

It does sound like you saw a meteor.
I once saw one under almost identical circumstances.
Sitting at a Stoplight, it raced across my whole field of view.
I got home, my phone was ringing, I answered with "meteor".
It was the local 911 center, my wife was a dispatcher there, they were getting a lot of calls. She knew I was a skywatcher, and I just happened to see it that night.
Really colorful, with tiny sparks shooting behind it.
You were really lucky to see that!

meteors are awesome to see.

I saw a bright green one in florida.

then i listened to coast to coast am one night and ALL these people from florida / louisiana / georgia were calling in reporting them .

question is...

what are they bringing with them?

sure alot or most of it all burns up.. but with SO many in the past couple years..
gotta be something that "survives the trip"

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Most likely the Ursids meteor shower for this month the Dec 22nd.

Article site HERE.



Cheers!!!!

[edit on 22-12-2008 by RFBurns]

just tell me they're not bringing Hyundais with them okay?

just.. just say it's okay and that's .. that's not what's happening okaay?

just..

please..


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olh my god-----i caN't believe you posted this.....was that not amazing

it was so bright and so long and boom gone..... i almost drove off the road seeing it

i was in pennington on rt 31 just getting onto 95,,rt 295

i've seen em b4 but not that long, bright or low

it scared me at first because pennington has an airport and planes coming in so i WAS LIKE OHH,,, CRAP IS THAT A PLANE

IT SCARED ME BECAUSE IT WAS SO BRIGHT

my mom had left a minute b4 me and totally missed it

it really got me,,, it was an amazing sight and disappointed to me i was the only one who caught it

i thought about posting but figured,,, ehh why bother, it was so quick,,,i bet no one caught it


i am so happy and almost giggly when i saW YOUR POST


thanx,, i'm glad someone else saw that amazing sight

rereading your post----exactly----it was so elegant


i feel like you,,,,,, iwas so touched by having seen this or caught this

not in some ufo,, freak way---but having caught something so beautiful

that was so orange,,,and bright,,,,,, i sat on my roof for the meteor shower and they were not that bright,, orange or long


it was neat

It's very cool seeing a large "fiery" meteor like that . I bet you were shaking for a while after viewing it.

Back in 1992, I was in my car (in Pennsylvania) when I saw the famous "Peekskill Meteorite". It was right in front of me and I watched it from the time it entered my filed of view (the top of my windshield) until it disappeared over the horizon. It was an incredible site.

The next day the story (with video) was on all of the network newscasts. That next evening my brother, who lived 150 miles away from me, called me to say that HE saw that meteor that they were talking about on the news. He didn't believe me at first when I told him that I saw it too. What are the odds of both of us looking up at the time, being 150 miles away from each other and seeing the same meteor?

There are some famous videos on the web of the "Peekskill Meteorite" that I witnessed (one beautiful shot of it flying over Pittsburgh), and those videos are exactly what I saw.

[edit on 12/22/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

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Yes I was caught off guard!!!..Some choice words came out of my mouth and it was just so cool, Ive never seen that before and im sure it burnt up because no impact was heard or reported but then again who really knows where it would have hit but it looked so close and just glided across the western horizon and eventually I lost line of sight. The post above yours actually saw what I did so it was nice to know I was not the only one...

I hear this allot! The reality is that every meteor is unique. Meteors from the same shower however tend to show the same characteristics. There are also random or sporadic meteors as well as those connected with meteor showers. Every sporadic has it's own character. You probably saw a sporadic, although it may have been a shower member like an Ursid, but they are usually not too bright and few and far between.

Spend a little time observing during the major shower peaks of the year, and you'll see allot more jaw dropping stuff... I've written a guide here that lists some of the unusual things you can expect to see while watching meteors: www.abovetopsecret.com...

i'm in northeastern p.a i saw the same thing last night around 5:50 6:00, it was amazing!!

I didn't see anything...

But that's probably because I am on the West Coast...plus I was indoors all night...and I was hammered...so maybe it's good I didn't see it - probably would have thought the invasion had started!!




I've never seen (at least as far as I know) a meteor In-Person, and would love to! Jealous of you brotha'; as well as everyone else that has had the fortunate opportunity to witness something like that...

I remeber counting 17 shoooting stars with the Pops one night when I was just a wee lad...never stopped looking after that.

BTW C...you asked how to go about finding more info on this - you did it right man...

Put it out on ATS, and chances are another member or several will have worthy input...





grammar edit per chud!

[edit on 12/22/2008 by chapter29]

The correct word is 'meteor', which is the luminous phenomena we see when a meteoroid hits our atmosphere.

Meteoroid describes a small particle in space, and if anything makes it to the ground, it's then known as a meteorite.

[edit on 22-12-2008 by C.H.U.D.]

Very cool. I've seen two meteorites "up close" and got shivers down my spine both times. One was so close that I could actually see the "corkscrew" shape that it left in its wake - I suspect that it was shaped in a way that induced a spin and that the atmospheric conditions were such that it caused a clear trail.