NUFORC Sighting 82768

Occurred: 2011-07-02 22:15 Local
Reported: 2011-07-28 11:57 Pacific
Duration: 7 minutes
No of observers: 4

Location: Manhattan, IL, USA

Shape: Fireball


Orange fireball steadily moves across sky then stops for 5 minutes (not UFO, a firework caused this!)

I witnessed an orange fireball about twice the size of a bright star. It moved silently at about the speed of an airplane. I would guess an altitude of 500 feet or so. After moving steadily across the sky nearly above me, it suddenly stopped. It did not move for at least 5 minutes, flickering slightly once in awhile. Then it winked out and was gone.

As I have been following the reports of fireballs on this sight for nearly year, I observed this as intently as possible. I should also mention the sky was clear. Now here is the most important part: I saw the fireball emerge from a firework about a block away! I have never seen or heard of a firework like this before or know anyone who has.

Other than the fireball, it had looked like a normal firework. Had I not known that it was a firework, I would have mistaken it for a UFO sighting.

This certainly can not explain all of the fireball sigthings out there by a long shot. But I can tell by reading some of the repo! rts this month, that many of them are describing exactly what I saw. I consider myself a bit of an amateur astronomer, so if it almost fooled me…

Posted 2011-08-07

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