NUFORC Sighting 54017

Occurred: 2006-12-16 07:00 Local
Reported: 2006-12-16 05:08 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: South of New Holland, PA, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Left a trail

Squiggly contrail and object (triangular shaped with haze) moving away at 90 degrees from eratic contrail.

Looking out the window to the southeast I first noticed an interesting very squiggly contrail line. It was very well formed and concise and looked like it was fresh. It started about 30 degrees above the horizon and continued down to the horizon squiggling the whole way down. I couldn't tell if the line was dropping in altitude or just going to the distant horizon. This eratic contrail line disipatted after 20 minutes from my first viewing. It looked like it may have been from some kind of rocket that had no (or little) guidance system - just so erating and many times finely looping on itself. It also was 90 degrees to the norm of contrails that normally form this time of day as we have much commercial traffic heading west at this time of day.

Shortly after first noticing the out of the ordinary contrail I saw what I thought appeared to be a comet moving not really fast to the east at about 90 degrees to the from the contrail. Again at this time of morning everything is normally moving to the west. This is the object I observed for about 30 seconds, with my wife seeing it for about the last 15 of those seconds (it took time to get downstairs to notify her). The whole object was the size of about half my pinky nail held out at arm's length. The object had a haze behind the direction of travel (all this contained in the size discription given). My wife and I watched it eventually fade away as it moved to the distance.

My pictures I'm sending are of the eratic / squiggly contrail line.

((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS))

This is to update my previous report: THE OBJECT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED. It was a rocket that took off from Wallops Island, VA two hundred miles south of here. The eratic contrail was from the exhaust from the rocket and the object was the rocket itself. Thgis has been reported to the local TV station.

((name deleted))

((END ADDENDUM))

NUFORC Note:

Missile launch from Wallops Island, VA. PD

Posted 2007-02-01