NUFORC Sighting 89693

Occurred: 2011-01-30 23:45 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2012-06-18 16:28 Pacific
Duration: 6 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Grey's Point in Topping, VA, USA

Shape: Fireball


Driving home from work, fireball at about tree top level

I saw a fireball coming in for a landing as I was driving home from work around midnite. I was headed southwest on Route 3 and was a half mile south of the Rappahannock River bridge. It travelled at right angles to the road I was on. I would estimate its height as between two of three tree lengths above ground. It was a 5 ft diameter reddish orange sphere coming across my field of vision. I wished there was a place to pull over and that there wasn't oncoming traffic. It is a two lane 55 MPH road.

As it got closer I could see sparks coming off of it. It must have impacted within a minute but I didn't see any smoke from fires - it might have gone in the river. Two unusual things (at least to me): it seemed to move slowly for a meteor and it didn't have a steep downwards trajectory as I might have expected. It travelled mostly horizontally. Instead of steep, I would estimate the angle of decline as 10-20 degrees away from the horizontal. It travelled more like an airplane slowly decreasing altitude for a landing. It did have the appearance of a fireball - perfectly spherical.

I was going to report it here but then opted for American Meteorological Society. I have a long-standing interest (40 years) in UFOs but didn't want to clutter your database with fireballs. I have scientific training but I'm not a particularly observant individual.






NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2012-06-20

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