NUFORC Sighting 15622

Occurred: 2000-12-28 17:09 Local
Reported: 2000-12-29 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 11 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Houston, TX, USA

Shape: Light

Bright, burning, descending small, narrow oval shaped light over s/sw sky in Houston, late afternoon/Dec 28, 00

Spotted object low in the southern (s/sw) sky when stopped to get gas(1709 hrs). Very bright, consistent brightness, just a small, narrow, oval shape - reminded me of comet Hale Bop's shape,(but no visible tail behind it). It was descending very slowly, maybe covering an inch of sky per minute. It seemed to be something entering the atmosphere, burning. Too slow to be a meteorite and too fast to be a comet - maybe space junk? Watched until 17:20 hrs when went out of sight below treeline/horizon. The day was very clear, the sun was still up, altho setting - I am an astronomy buff - so I know where all the planets are and anyway it was too light for any stars or planets to appear yet and Venus is in west/setting now and Jupiter and Saturn in east/rising - so was not a planet. Believe must hv been some space junk.

Posted 2001-01-03