NUFORC Sighting 55160

Occurred: 2007-01-27 12:30 Local
Reported: 2007-02-06 14:10 Pacific
Duration: 4 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Washington, D.C., DC, USA

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

Fireball Over Capitol Hill- Very Long Deep Blue Tail- During Anti- War Rally

I witnessed a huge aerial event over Washington, D.C., while attending the Jan. 27 Anti- War Rally and March. A fireball streaking high overhead from south to north, it was a DAYTIME SIGHTING, the persistent long tail was bright color of electric- arc blue mixed with violet- the color and brightness appearing like lightning from this witness' perspective, the head of the object grew larger as it moved from my right to left high in the sky, directly over the U.S. Capitol and behind the speaker's stage- I was located in the Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument, facing east, standing almost directly in front of the speakers stage about 100 feet back when I saw this object streak overhead about half- way through the scheduled speakers presentations. I was awed and blown away for quite a while, and I wondered whether anybody else in the crowd witnessed this ! I was initially frightened by the streak or dart of light I saw in the sky over Capitol Hill- I thought at first a big firework, then I saw how high up it was- thousands of feet, or several miles- and then I thought missile, and the fireball got somewhat larger as it traveled, -and I actually expected an explosion with sound- but only silence happened, and the tail faded without leaving any smoke or cloud whatsoever. The tail of a normal meteor would have left a thin remnant smoke or cloud trail like a contrail- but I repeatedly sought for a wisp of smoke to try to understand what I was seeing- and saw only CLEAR BLUE SKY AND SUN- BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER ! AND my early impression is this was LIKE AN ARROW ! Why ? Because the tail was very long and persisted way too long to be a normal meteor. You see, a normal meteor is colored incandescent white or bright sun- yellow, with a short tail because the tail tracks closely to the head of the meteor ( look at videos of the unfortunate shuttle reentry loss ). But THIS object- the tail continued for at least 20 degrees of sky, the entire display faded all at once, and the color of the tail was electric- arc blue- like an arc welder, but deeper blue- fringed with violet- FULL LENGTH- and I think the head of the object, as it progressed and grew bigger, was more violet than blue. Moving south to north, from the direction of the sun towards north.

I turned and looked at the faces of the crowd together with the media risers close behind me- NO REACTION AT ALL ! That really bothered me, too !

Posted 2007-02-24