Seriously, see if you can find a contrail that looks like this. Contrails just don't glow fiery hot at one end like that...

nicely put muppet and cool explain-o-pix

Did you notice the length of it at all?.. whether it started or stopped at any point? Did it hold it's glow for a while? could you see what was forming it at the end? Sorry for all the questions.. I'm really curious about this!

looks kinda fake to me but i dont have my glasses on right now

In terms of the image itself, it's certainly possible it could be a digital fake, but if so it's a very good one.

The trail and fire itself could be done using a particle system with some retouching, but the trickiest part would be comping it behind the clouds like that. (and then doing it again from another angle for the other photo). A very professional job if it is a fake, but not beyond the wits of a dedicated 15yr old with a home PC...

I wonder... were there any other witnesses? Do the two photographers know each other?

All possibilities should be considered...

I saw a meteor during the early evening, what is called twilight. It appeared more like a magnesium flare crossing the sky and hitting the next town or so over. Actually it exploded above land 500 miles away.

I don't think its true to say that meteor activity happens all the time. I am a uni student and I study the papers very carefully and read them back to front every day (several papers) and I can tell you in the last week in southern Australia I have seen two articles on meteors out of maybe 3 or 4 in four years. Furthermore, the one that hit the ground in NZ was the 9TH EVER RECORDED hiting the ground in NZ.

"the "flame" part is out ahead of the clouds"


It is also probably higher in altitude than those clouds.

Therefore is the only portion of the "trail" still getting direct sunlight,
albeit, slighly orange-ish sunlight, because the sun is setting and shining through more atmosphere.

I think the coloring is a clue, why would the "fireball"
be the same hue as the illuminated clouds?
Would it not have it's own, different source of light?