Fireball over Austin, TX
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Firework like flash looking like one lighted point hitting another and creating short spark shower, then dissapears.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center. Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2001-10-27 → 2001-11-13
From the same sky
Related entries
December 12, 2023 · 11:22 PM · SPHERE
Austin, TX
I was on an electric scooter home and noticed three lights against the backdrop of the clouds. They were white faint orbs and whizzing back and forth in a triangular formation. What I mean is if each orb was A, B, and C, it looked as if A would whizz to position B, B would whizz to position C, and C would whizz to position A. This continued for 2-3 rounds before disappearing. I saw it for a 45 seconds in complete disbelief. Once they disappeared I parked my scooter and went inside my apartment building. This was about 20 minutes ago and I am only now processing the event. I fully believe this could be a UFO.
December 6, 2023 · 12:48 AM · CHEVRON
Austin, TX
Standing outside of my 12th-floor patio in my apartment building, I witnessed something approaching from North Austin with no visible lights (it was past midnight). Knowing this did not match commercial flight routes I had seen previously, I watched it fly almost directly overhead me in a south or nearly southeast direction. The first thing that came to mind was a stealth bomber like the B2, but I wouldn't understand why it was flying so low with no lights. I could clearly see the Chevron shape in a light grey tone, but couldn't discern whether it had a full triangle that was black or a darker color. I watched it fly above me for about 30 seconds, where once it got above I removed my headphones and heard no audible noise. At one point, I almost believed the front of the object changed shape from being a straight-angled Chevron, but I couldn't say this for certainty.
October 14, 2023 · 4:00 AM · UNKNOWN
Austin, TX
Mid-October (exact date forgotten) At around 4:00 AM I was running laps on the fourth floor of the parking garage at Park University in Austin, Texas, located on Morado Cir. This part of Austin has very dense old-growth tree cover, and is hilly, so being on top of the garage gives a very clear view of the sky that you wouldn't otherwise get on the ground. Some time around 4:00 AM I noticed a bright golden light in the sky, to the northwest. It looked similar to the lights that you see on large commercial aircraft, i.e. Boeing 747 or larger. I initially paid it no mind. But after 5 minutes had passed, I stopped to look at it. Almost as soon as I began taking a closer look, the light began to move to the east, and it also came closer toward me. It was moving unusually slow, and several times, it quickly stopped and remained in place, or even descended vertically, for several seconds. As it got within about 300 feet of me, at an altitude of maybe 400 feet, I saw what seemed to be a long, thick, vertical "cylinder", seemingly in front of the light. The cylinder seemed to be about 30 feet long, but I have no training to discern an object's size at that distance. The cylinder was shadowy and difficult to see or describe. I think it had horizontal protuberances, similar to a dilole antenna. Whatever it was, I'm confident this was not a conventional aircraft. I also don't believe it was a drone. There was no wind that day and it was very quiet. I heard no noise. I stood there perplexed as I watched this strange combination of a brilliant golden light and an obscure vertical cylinder drifting over my neighborhood. It passed between the parking garage and nearby Village Oaks apartments. This was definitely unsettling to watch. The way the object could stop suddenly, descend suddenly, and just as quickly continue drifting didn't seem like anything a normal aircraft could do. And there was absolutely no sound even after it got ahead of me, as I would expect from a jet aircraft. Several days before this, perhaps a quarter of a mile from the parking garage, I saw strange moving lights in a heavily wooded valley, along with unusual helicopter activity farther away. This was around 12:00 AM. As far as I am aware there were no search and rescue operations, manhunts or chases going on around that time. There is not a significant homeless population in this part of Austin and there's very little crime, so I don't think this was a coincidental homeless encampment or fleeing suspect. Whatever it was, it was uncanny. The lights were small, golden-orange, and spaced about 20 feet away from eachother and seemed to drift around but never got close enough for me to identify them.
October 13, 2023 · 8:30 PM · CIRCLE
Austin, TX
I live in Austin TX and while I was driving down Riverside Friday night I looked in the sky and saw what looked like a really bright star but this light had a surrounding glow to it that the regular stars didn’t have . So I decided to record it and once I started recorded I noticed it was moving really fast towards south Austin and when it would take off it would only leave what looked like the reaction to breaking the sound barrier although this flying object never made noise or left trails . I have a clear video of the object if anyone would like to see Falcon 9 SpaceX SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS [NUFORC annotation: Rocket - Possible]
October 13, 2023 · 7:34 PM · CHANGING
Austin, TX
Fuzzy light moving rapidly through sky on clear evening then slowed and a ring of smoke appeared … continued to be fuzzy and moved in different direction Falcon 9 SpaceX SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS [NUFORC annotation: Rocket - Certain]
October 13, 2023 · 7:32 PM · SPHERE
Austin, TX
Orb light with haze around it Falcon 9 SpaceX SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS [NUFORC annotation: Rocket - Certain]