NUFORC Sighting 74966

Occurred: 2010-04-10 19:50 Local
Reported: 2010-04-10 18:58 Pacific
Duration: 15
No of observers: 1

Location: Excelsior Springs, MO, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Left a trail, Emitted other objects

I witnessed a possible satellite collision or re-entry.

Unknown occurrence.

I was out in the late evening bird watching and plane watching with binoculars. The approximate time was 19:50 hrs., April 10, 2010, just before sunset. I believe I witnessed a collision of satellites, or something entering the earth’s atmosphere and breaking up.

At first I thought it was a bright star or the ISS, but it broke into two distinct parts with a debris field behind it. The objects did not seem to be falling. It was not moving like the ISS and did not streak across the sky like a meteor.

The two distinct pieces slowly drifted apart. After a couple of minutes one of the pieces broke into two more pieces. Those also slowly drifted apart.

After sunset the light was failing and I lost sight of the objects.

I observed the objects/pieces for about 15 minutes, maybe a little longer.

Posted 2010-04-13