NUFORC Sighting 37678

Occurred: 2004-06-19 04:30 Local
Reported: 2004-06-19 20:49 Pacific
Duration: 5 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Mesquite, NV, USA

Shape: Flash

Bright flashes from a streaking object light up the sky and leave a large smoke trail over Mesquite, Nevada.

At 4:30AM a series of bright flashes from a streaking object lit up the early dawn sky. The object appeared to cover 30 to 50 miles in about 5 seconds, traveling from East to West. Four or five flashes lit the entire area like large lighting strikes do and appeared to me to look like magnesium when it burns. My first, split second reaction was that it was a large meteor burning up in the atmosphere, but the flashes were too bright. It totally vanished after the last flash. A large trail of smoke was left in the sky from a point where the first flash occured to the last. I am a pilot and I would estimate the smoke trail to be at about 15,000 feet above ground level. The smoke trail spread and dissipated like a normal condensation trail of a jet aircraft. There was absolutely no sound from the object.

Posted 2004-06-23