NUFORC Sighting 12365

Occurred: 2000-03-11 19:45 Local
Reported: 2000-03-16 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5 min
No of observers: 1

Location: Orangevale, CA, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Emitted other objects

3 Objects traversing the sky, burning out eventually

I was looking roughly to north and noticed 3 bright yellow lights in the sky about 35 degrees above the horizon altitude unknown. They moving one behind the other approximately from the north to the south at about the same speed as a high altitude jet liner would be moving. With my arm extended straight out, each object was two hand widths from the next in a single file. When they reached the highest point above the horizon, about 75 degrees, the middle light went out. As it went out, smaller bright yellow pieces fell off. They looked to be burning. These pieces went out after a few seconds. As the remaining two objects approached about 45 degree off the southern horizon, each burned out within about 10 seconds of each other. They also dropped pieces that were lit for about 2-3 seconds. This is all I saw. My first guess was some kind of missle. What is strange is that they were moving north to south. I am not aware of any missle ranges north of Sacramento. Also, if they were dropping debris, it is likely that some might fall onto a city. Beale AFB is close by. Perhaps they were testing something. About 2 years ago, I saw something similar occur over my house, but the direction was south to north. I did not file a report on this object, but could if you want. There were some unique features of this other account that may interest you. I left my phone number off below. Please contact me via email if you would like any more info.

Posted 2000-04-01

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