NUFORC Sighting 25577

Occurred: 2002-10-14 19:03 Local
Reported: 2002-10-14 19:39 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 2

Location: Redwood Valley, CA, USA

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

High altitude brightly lit fireball with a brightly lit trail which ended in a huge explosion/disintegration, seen in the southern sky.

I was looking south, at the rising moon and noticed what looked like a very high altitude aircraft proceeding northwest.

As it travelled across the sky, it was leaving a brightly lit trail like a contrail behind a jet. The object was bullet shaped, like the fuselage of an airplane. It seemed to be very high in the sky, like when you see jets way up there. It appeared very bright against the darkening sky of dusk, as if it was the source of the light, not just reflecting the setting sun.

The trail it left was lit up too...it was different from a regular contrail in that it was much wider.

After watching for about 15 seconds, it emitted a huge burst of this trail. It kept going for another 45 seconds or so, then suddenly burst into a huge explosion, like fireworks display. It seemed to just disintegrate. The trail it left was visible for several minutes after, appearing to be blown into a curved shape by winds.

((Vandenberg rocket launch. PD))

Posted 2002-10-15

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