Meteor, or something, spotted in sky Thursday Night

Looking at my hometown news website i came across this story. Aparently people in Chicago also had seen this last night. Has anyone else seen this?

Meteor, or something, spotted in sky

SAUGATUCK, Mich. (WOOD) -- 24 Hour News 8 received many e-mails Thursday night about something falling from the sky.
Viewers from Kalamazoo to Allegan County to Cedar Springs reported seeing something that looked like a shooting star with an "orangish tail."
Dave Swanson, who works in the control tower at the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport, told 24 Hour News 8 that at 9:17 p.m. he saw a "meteoroid in the NW sky traking NNE. Duration of less than 2 seconds, but brilliant when it was lit."
Police scanners revealed Allegan County authorities dispatched some crews to check it out after receiving phone calls in the Saugatuck area. There were initial reports of a possible plane down. Authorities were called back after a brief search.
Storm Team 8 Meteorologist Bill Steffen also received phone calls and e-mails from across West Michigan. He said it was likely a meteor. Plus, since we don't know that any fragments made it to the ground, what was spotted should be called a meteor.
According to NASA, a meteor is a bright streak of light that appears briefly in the sky. Observers often call meteors shooting stars or falling stars because they look like stars falling from the sky....Meteorites reach the earth's surface because they are the right size to travel through the atmosphere. If they are too small, they will disintegrate in the atmosphere. If they are too large, they may explode before reaching the earth's surface.
Those at WGN-TV in Chicago told 24 Hour News 8 they, too, have received calls of something in the sky.
If you saw anything, please e-mail the 24 Hour News 8 newsroom at [email protected].


A person wo seen this, (Countingstars wrote: )
Could it possibly have been the International Space station again? I know that briefly appears within human eye view now and again?
No, it wasn't that. I was one of the first to email WOOD, and Susan G. actually called me to ask what I had seen. It was about 9:15 and in the northern sky, just to the west, it was like a shooting star, only slower, and had an orange tail. It was very obvious it was not a satellite or space station. Whenever there is a meteor shower I will sit out and watch it, and this was slower moving and much brighter than what you see in a typical meteor shower. I thought perhaps we were scheduled for a passing comet that I didn't hear about, or that maybe there was some explosion in the sky that I had missed, since I had just caught it out my window.
Knowing now that it was not anything that involved anyone getting hurt, it was pretty cool to see.

This sounds like it could be space-junk making a re-entry, or even a very slow meteor - even experienced observers can have difficulty distinguishing between the two, as they can have very similar velocities and be quite similar in appearance.

[edit on 10-10-2008 by C.H.U.D.]

I was in downtown Chicago and saw a bright light going across the sky. I thought it was a plane at first and then I saw what looked like flames shooting out the end leaving a trail. It continued moving for about 5 seconds and then just disappeared. I saw this at 5:50 pm.

I seen this on the news last night and started a thread on it here

www.abovetopsecret.com...

it looks like you found more on it, I wish thare was some pic or video of it.
t would have been great to see.

Originally posted by ChilledVoodoo
I thought perhaps we were scheduled for a passing comet that I didn't hear about

It does sound like a meteor or space junk re-entering.

I know this quote isn't directly from the OP but this kind of statement is just another example of how much ignorance there is about the sky. Comets don't "pass" through the sky.

I know, too pedantic.

Originally posted by slayerfan
it looks like you found more on it, I wish thare was some pic or video of it.
t would have been great to see.

As I said before, this time of year is quite busy. The sky is full of interesting things going on all the time really - many people just don't realize just how easy things like meteors can be to see.

Here is some recent footage and a photo from the last few days which I dug up :
spaceweather.com...

www.howardedin.com...

enjoy

PS - here are some examples of re-entries also:
www.liveleak.com...
uk.youtube.com...
spaceweather.com...

and my personal favorite, the stardust re-entry, which I've uploaded here since I couldn't be bothered to search for it:
www.sendspace.com...
File Name: stardust_reentrya.mov
Size: 6MB

I caught an orange-type object at about 7:40pm EDT in SE PA - was near a plane with normal lights but it started out as an orange dot and got a little bigger, much different than the nearby plane - got out of my car (was parked) but a street light and tree get in the way and I lost it. Anyway - no real correlation to the Chicago-area one's time. It could have been sunglare off a satellite.

Last year on Sept 24, parked in the same spot but later in the evening at 8:13pm EDT, I did catch an Orange-colored ufo. Reported it to Mufon if you want to take a look in their case-history.

reply to post by bonaire


I don't think satellites can glint orange... a slow meteor, or junk-re-entry is much more likely. How long did the object remain visible for?