NUFORC Sighting 31529

Occurred: 2003-09-15 22:30 Local
Reported: 2003-09-16 23:57 Pacific
Duration: 0.7 to 0.9 sec.?
No of observers: 1

Location: Trenton, OH, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Changed Colo

A large,green,flare like or meteor like object.

I am a 37 Y/O male,un-married,no children,currently residing with my immediate family...

I was walking my dog at approximately 10:30 PM (22:30 hours)in my back yard at my current residence - It was dark and had been for some time,I cannot be absolutely sure of the EXACT time of this sighting-but I do know that it was somewhat late in the mid to latter part of the evening,and a clear - or rarely sparsely cloudy night - as the stars were well visible.The exact meteorological conditions could-I suppose-be varified through the Nation Weather Service database..

As I was doing a bit of stargazing - to the northwest of my position at what I would guess would be a somewhat low altitude-I observed a phenomenon that appeared to be a large,bright green meteor like apparition - in scale,about the size of a qaurter at arms length from my perspective at line of sight.The object suddenly appeared,intensified,and then faded or "blinked out" within a time span that was a little less than a full second (0.7 to 0.9 seconds).

The object had an appearance exactly similiar in nature to a bright green roman candle fireball falling to Earth,or a bright green rescue flare.The color was similiar to a slightly lighter shade of green than a green traffic signal,and remained mostly that color throughout the sighting.It was travelling at a speed that could be associated with the speed of a pyrotechnic effect like a flare or firework falling to earth.

As the object traversed lower,it began to spit out orange sparks on it's contrailing end before completely fading out.It was traveling at an approximate trajectory inclination of 120 degrees travelling towards the ground(?) with the true horizon line representing 180 degrees as a reference.

I deduced that it was NOT a firework or flare because it's origin was skyward and it was NOT fired initially from a ground source - also - there was absolutely NO sound associated with the object that might be similiar to the "fizzle"sound emitted by a flare-or any explosions or sounds one associates with fireworks.

Admittedly-the object COULD have been a rather large meteor,but it's speed seemed too slow for me to say conclusively that it was for sure.

THAT-and had it BEEN a meteor,then it would've had to have been very large-as I have rarely seen meteors or shooting stars that approached that type of near object intensity.

My impression after a bit was that a close orbit satellite had perhaps encountered problems and re-entered the atmosphere(which IS a valid possibility).

I have worked in a metal shop-and am aware than certain alloys with specific chemical compositions CAN produce a green flame under high heat conditions from an arc welder similiar to the color I observed.

The object startled me a little-as it seemed close in proximity to Trenton.If it had been a solid object falling to Earth-then I would roughly guess that it would have fallen to the ground within a radius of around fourty(40)or less - to sixty(60)miles from my position,although that could be an observation based upon natural conditions that could have produced the illusion of local closeness - had this indeed been a meteor.

The light intensity from the object was appreciable-but it did not seem close enough to the ground to illuminate any type of ground structures or clutter.



Posted 2003-09-17

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