NUFORC Sighting 11062

Occurred: 1999-11-16 19:05 Local
Reported: 1999-11-17 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 3

Location: Norwalk, OH, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail

Bright light resembling bottle rocket or firework travelled from west to east.

I had just entered my car in the nursing home parking lot, and as I started to close the door my attention was caught by a bright light appearing through the trees to the left. My first thought was that someone had set off a bottle rocket; then I thought, as it was so bright, that it was a firework. I got out of the car to listen for the 'boom' and began to realize that the 'bottle rocket' was on a horizontal trajectory and was not making any noise. As it travelled overhead I tried hard to make sense of what I was seeing: the light of the leading part was very bright and there seemed to be trails of light off of it, but they did not expand in size the further they got away from the further they got away from the main source of light - they seemed more like dashes. I don't know how many of these following trails there were - more than one, I am sure. I can't judge distance. It seemed so close. And it seemed to travel leisurely, unlike the brief blips of shooting stars I have witnessed. The 'bottle rocket' continued to the east, disappearing into the trees to the right. Another man who was also in the lot at the same time and I briefly discussed the event with him. I asked him what he thought he saw. He said it was a large plane with trails of "fire". We both agreed that it made no noise. I said that it seemed very close. We looked up to where it had been and could see the blinking lights from a far away plane; we agreed that it seemed to be much closer than the plane. I noticed the time when I returned to the car: 7:05 p.m. When I returned to the nursing home tonight others mentioned that one of the nurses had seen something while on break the night before. She wasn't there for me to question. I am 51, female, interested in astronomy but not knowledgeable; I did go out this summer to watch for shooting stars during the August meteor showers(whose name I can't remember); this is the most interesting celestial event I have ever seen. Education: M.E. in Media Education (librarian, former)

Posted 1999-11-23