Originally posted by JibbyJedi
reply to post by Human_Alien

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This is that same object seen over all those states? Well then that must put it in low Earth orbit. How many things can do that we know of? Meteors don't just sit there either, they travel 1000s of mph.
It's very bright, I'm stumped on this one.

Last night (September 14th) saw hundreds of people across the southern states of the US, including the cities of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, claim they had seen an unusual bright fireball of light, heading from west to east across the sky.

Amateur footage of the phenomenon shows a white ball of light streaking across the sky, while a crowd of onlookers gasp at the sight.

Bright light seen in southwest US states skies a fireball, NASA says
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Bright light seen in southwest US states skies a fireball, NASA saysLast night (September 14th) saw hundreds of people across the southern states of the US, including the cities of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, claim they had seen an unusual bright fireball of light, heading from west to east across the sky.

Amateur footage of the phenomenon shows a white ball of light streaking across the sky, while a crowd of onlookers gasp at the sight.

Law enforcement officials reported they had received a “flood of calls” over the sighting, while social networking sites were soon abuzz with news of what people had just seen.

The incident occurred at around 19.45 PDT and there were conflicting opinions about the colour of the ball of light from different witnesses. Some reported that the light was a bluish-green colour, while others said it was more a yellowy-orange shade.


Don Yeoman, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program, refused to be drawn on what the object was, but did offer an explanation of what it was most likely to be.

“We can’t say 100 per cent,” he stated this morning, “but it’s almost certain that the object was a fireball.”

A fireball is a part of an asteroid or a larger meteor that burns up brightly as it enters the atmosphere.

Mr Yeoman estimated that the object was “the size of a basketball or baseball” and that it “likely disintegrated before it hit the ground.”

Mr Yeoman explained that the bluish-green colouring of the object cited by many observers could mean that the rock contained traces of magnesium or nickel, while the orange colouring is usually an indication of the object travelling at several miles per second through the Earth’s atmosphere.

“They make an impressive show for a small object,” he added.