Another Slow Mystery Fireball Spotted across San Diego, Southland, Orange, Corona, Phoenix, Vegas

Originally posted by ahnggk
2nd comment is wrong. Afterburners don't leave a long trail and a brilliant head, just a very short, consistent incandescent plume. And the object does seem to follow a ballistic path

Perhaps it's not an aircraft/afterburner, but it certainly is not a meteor, though it does resemble one superficially.


I took a screenshot from the footage in between the moments when the object is very bright, and enlarged part of it. Here it is:


It's fairly clear that there is a dark object, and the trail or train is being emitted from the back of the object. Meteors may flare up like this object does, but they don't suddenly become dark in between bright flare-ups - it doesn't fit with how meteors behave, and meteor physics.

The other problem, as you pointed out, is the trajectory, which is obviously not straight. Most meteors will appear to have straight trajectories - exceptions are extremely rare, and the change in trajectory would be much less obvious than it is here I think.

The main problem with it though, is it's obviously in front of the clouds, otherwise the clouds would be back-lit. Not being back lit or even lit at all strongly suggests that the object was not that bright, and probably much closer to the observer/camera than a real meteor would be.

Now if it was a meteor, and it was below the level of the clouds, that means that it can't have been more than perhaps 10 or 20 km away tops. We know that to emit light, like a meteor does, it has to be going at least 2-3 km/s, which is way faster than the speed of sound, so there would have been booms heard/felt without fail. An impact would likely be felt/heard too.

I'm not sure what the object is, but I am sure it's not a meteor. Perhaps a flare or a rocket, or just a prank/hoax/someone mucking around with a very large catapult... who knows.

reply to post by FireballStorm


Right. I guess I should have said FIREBALL instead of meteor, because as you rightfully point out, all that looks like a shooting star is not necessarily a meteor...and I am admittedly no expert on the subtle differences, for sure.

My point, actually, would have been made better with the word fireball and I'm undecided on whether to change my post...I'm not so much interested in pointing out the specifics of what makes a fireball a meteor or something other than a meteor but rather what generally defines most people's perception of FIREBALL...

The video in the OP is just not what most would call a fireball!
Mainly because it is not on fire...

Thank you for posting the video that you did, however, because after I had looked into this more, and saw a video of the Peekskill Meteor of 1992, which is confirmed as a meteor, I recognized it as one of the first shown in the video...and watching other scenes in that video as well as of the Peekskill Meteor, I realize that the first video I posted was not nearly as similar to what I saw back in Texas as the Peekskill Meteor...except for the color, that is. I am pretty sure, still, that I saw a meteor and not something else...that was my initial impression but I don't mind changing it if it is inaccurate...but I think it is!
Not that it matters to anyone but me, but still...just sayin'.

I found this, too, at Wiki which I thought interesting in light of recent threads and interest here at ATS and on youtube:

Seasonal variation in frequency of fireball sightings
The frequency of fireball sightings increases by about 10-30% during the weeks of vernal equinox.[29] Even meteorite falls are more common during the northern hemisphere's spring season. Although this phenomenon has been known for quite some time, the reason behind the anomaly is not fully understood by scientists. Some researchers attribute this to an intrinsic variation in the meteoroid population along Earth's orbit, with a peak in big fireball-producing debris around spring and early summer. Research is in progress for mapping the orbits of the meteors in order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon.[30]

reply to post by queenannie38


You may well be right that what you saw was a meteor/fireball. I was not there so I could not say.

I just wanted to point out that the footage you posted was not footage of what are generally termed meteors/fireballs.

The words meteor and fireball (used describe a bright meteor) are both scientific terms for natural events, so I think you had the usage right in the first place.

Unfortunately the word "fireball" is a bit of a misnomer, since as I explained before, meteoroids are not burning/on fire. It has also been used to describe all kinds of things that have nothing to do with meteors, confusing things even more.

My suggestion is that we stick to fireball as a term for a natural meteor, to avoid confusion

I also think you are right about the footage that was posted in the OP, after having looked at it a bit more closely - it's not a meteor. Meteors do not move "from side to side" like that as others ave pointed out.

I'm not sure that we can completely rule out what was in the OP's footage as not being on fire. It's hard to tell what it is, but it could be something along the lines of sky-divers with flares, which has cropped up a few times on ATS with not too dissimilar footage.

Good on you for finding the information on the seasonal variations in the frequency of fireball sightings

You are right that it is relevant to the reports we are seeing on ATS. I usually post this link/page: Annual and diurnal variations in fireball rates (International Meteor Organization)

There's also a short video on the subject from NASA

I'm with the kid in the OP video. It was definitely a transformer. No doubt. Probably the red one... what was his name?...

So how long was this thing visible for? I can't believe it was seen in both San Diego and Phoenix. It must have been huge.