NUFORC Sighting 10745

Occurred: 1999-11-16 19:10 Local
Reported: 1999-11-16 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1-2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Strongsville (suburb of Cleveland), OH, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Left a trail, Emitted other objects, Aircraft nearby

Flaming fireball initially looking like a firecracker was steadily moving in west to east. I was south of it facing north from 10:00 position in sky traveling to 2:00 position looking up at it at about a 70-75 degree angle. As it traveled, hundreds of yellow-white sparks flew away from it leaving a trail. The center of the object was green and red flames and made no sound. The center object was rapidly diminishing, burning up. All of the white sparks burned out so nothing hit the ground. It was quite small with one or two sparks flying off of it when it disappeared out of sight.

It caught my eye thorough the windshield as I was driving home on my street. It was dark and there were many plane lights in the air(we live near an airport). I'm sure it was seen by some of those planes although it appeared to me to be at an altitude between the ground and the planes so they would have had to look down to see it. It looked like a firework display that moved across the sky. I pulled into my driveway as it passed by. I was alone and saw no one else in the neighborhood. I am a 49 year old female, research chemist with a local paint company.

Posted 1999-11-17