NUFORC Sighting 119084

Occurred: 2015-03-15 23:15 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2015-05-21 14:22 Pacific
Duration: ~1 minute
No of observers: 1

Location: Lawrence, KS, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Left a trail, Emitted other objects

Bright green fireball.

I was walking home from work, west bound on 10th Street at the intersection of 10th and Delaware in Lawrence, KS. I happened to look up and I saw a what looked like a green fireball streaking down toward town. The object moved like you'd expect a meteor to move and burnt out after a brief time. The object was very bright, the same sort of luminescence and coloration of burning copper. It left a trail and smaller pieces seemed to break off of it and burn out as they streaked across the sky. By my estimation, I'd say that it was no more than 1000 to 2000 feet above the ground.

I filed a report of a similar object that I saw around March of 2007 here on the NUFORC database as well. I'd always thought these fireballs were just common meteors that may have penetrated deep into the atmosphere, but I'm no meteorologist or astronomer.

After sighting the fireball mentioned in this report and reading about a similar sighting here in the database, I did some internet digging and found that green fireballs have been investigated by the Air Force in what was called "Project Twinkle." Since they are such an odd thing to see and worthy of the curiosity of the Air Force, I feel I should report them here.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date is approximate. PD

Posted 2015-05-22