The catalog
Sightings
Witness reports, held as-reported. Each entry keeps its source, its coordinates where the record has them, and its place in the larger pattern.
9,368 entries
October 9, 2017 · 12:00 AM · FIREBALL
Meriden, CT
Witness provides no information; elects to remain anonymous. Hoax?? PD
October 5, 2017 · 9:00 PM · FIREBALL
Port Austin, MI
Four different times scene Fireball objects leaving an aircraft floating looked like maybe three at a time.
October 1, 2017 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL
Shell Lake, WI
My friend & I were checking out the sunset, when we saw a fireball hovering in the sky, it lasted for a couple minutes,then reappeared and slowly went to the East, for another couple minutes, not going that far, then quickly got brighter, and seemed to zoom towards us, then flashed brighter & just disappeared.
September 28, 2017 · 8:30 AM · FIREBALL
San Diego, CA
The fireballs were in a triangle formation and they were not moving. We watched for about 10 minutes and they eventually disappeared...like they just burnt out and were gone. I saw the exact same thing 1 year before.
September 25, 2017 · 7:35 PM · FIREBALL
Stafford Springs, CT
As we got under it, it appeared to have a glowing pale light underneath but was still a bright red all around and looked round like a ball or slightly oblong and kept slowly moving as we drove the opposite way under it. My fiancé was driving too fast and the road was busy so we didn't get a chance to turn around before we couldn't see it anymore. Maybe someone else saw it too because a lot of people were driving at this time.
September 24, 2017 · 11:30 PM · FIREBALL
Malden, MA
I was walking home from work around 23:30 when I turned left into my street and notice this light appearing in the horizon, at first it looked like a airplane catching fire but it wasn’t going straight down, so i thought it was a falling star… I was wrong again... The object made a U turn and started to fade away until it desapear completely. It didn’t flash, was slow, moved gently, and didn’t leave a trace.
September 23, 2017 · 11:45 PM · FIREBALL
Sioux City, IA
EXTREMELY bright ball appeared above me in my backyard. It lit up my back yard almost like the trees and yard were on fire. It was stationary and then moved toward the north. It looked like a ball of plasma.
September 23, 2017 · 11:05 PM · FIREBALL
San Diego, CA
Red glowing ball was moving fast over the ocean in San Diego, CA. It was heading south west. There was no tail on the object. It did have white ripples coming off both sides of it. The ripples looked like air being moved. The width of the ripples were huge! The object was moving super fast. Never seen speed like that before. Rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB. PD
September 23, 2017 · 10:50 PM · FIREBALL
San Pedro, CA
A fireball or bright sphere crossed overhead from NW to SW for about 1 minute. There was a crescent shaped glow many times larger that followed the sphere. The sphere was in the middle and on the leading edge of this glowing crescent. The speed of travel was much slower than a meteor and seemed to be far higher than the passenger jets that are regularly seen to follow a west to east flight path to LAX. No aircraft were in sight when this incident occurred. After viewing the sphere for approximately 45 sec to 1 min, it had traveled to approximately 30 degrees above the SW horizon and then disappeared completely. I observed the sphere through 20x binoculars and it did not appear to have any vapor trail or disintegration occurring as it traveled. The crescent shape appeared to be uniform and fluorescent without ragged trailing. Both the sphere and crescent were emitting a brilliant white light during the entire event without diminishing intensity. Rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB. PD
September 22, 2017 · 11:45 PM · FIREBALL
Carolina Beach, NC
I was sitting on my back porch last night looking at the stars. It was a clear night with minimal humidity. I live in aa neighborhood that is pitch dark at night. There was.no noise or evidence of any one out and about that time of night. Out the corner of my eye, I noticed an orange/yellowish light. In that moment, a sphere of fiery looking light energy moved quickly down the alley by the back of my house. This fireball moved quickly in a lateral trojectory with no sound approximately 20ft away from where I was sitting and no more than 15ft above the ground. The total event lasted 5 - 8 seconds and disappeared. There was only 1 fireball. A dog in the neighborhood started barking about the time this fireball started to disappear. The fireball was about the size of a large cantaloupe. It startled me and still can't believe what my eyes saw. I went out the next morning and didn't see any evidence of anything burning. I am a medical professional with a Masters degree and post graduate studies.
September 21, 2017 · 6:00 PM · FIREBALL
New York City (Bronx), NY
Saw one object first looked like a star and it was still clear outside. Then turned into a fireball and looked lik the sun that’s when I figure it was something else. It was just floating in the air. Suddenly started moving slow and changing with these beautiful colors. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Amaze and confused. It’s like I’m actually watching a Ufo. Blue , red, white colors not like planes flash but more like from left to right slow flash and more red then the other colors. Trying to blend in with the sky.
September 19, 2017 · 8:45 PM · FIREBALL
Monroe, OH
I have already submitted a report for earlier this month pertaining to an earlier sighting - and I have just had another. Tonight (09 - 19 - 2017) at approximately 8:45 PM EST, I was out in my back yard having a cigarette, when I saw what seemed to me - to be a very slow flaring light or high altitude explosion - orange in color - that began as a pin point of light that suddenly appeared - and then over a period of 1 to 1.5 seconds grew dramatically in brilliance, faded quickly down to a pin point once again - and then moved farther towards the north as it continued to fade until it was no longer visible. the entire incident occurred at a high altitude (stratosphere?) well above the weather deck - maybe between 3000 to 8000 feet? The position of the initial incident was North East, I would say towards northern Warren County Ohio. The incident duration was about 2.5 seconds. I am not dismissing conventional explanations but it did NOT seem to be a meteor or space junk - as the object moved in a directed manner after flaring and fading - curving its course. Also - both the flare up and the object's motion seemed too slow for a meteorite. I am submitting sequenced graphics and an animated GIF file to NUFORC.
September 17, 2017 · 1:00 AM · FIREBALL
Philipsburg, PA
We observed a large object burzt into flame in the night sky.
September 17, 2017 · 12:56 AM · FIREBALL
Crystal City, VA
A friend and I were returning to our hotel (The Westin) in Crystal City, VA, from a diner. We were at the crossing of S Eads Street and 20th Street S (38.855640, -77.053176) between two large buildings. At approximately 00:56 EST we observed a large fireball or flash rapidly move East to West between in the Northern horizon. Note we were facing North as we observed the object moving East to West. If facing North from out vantage point it would have been at a 45 degree angle in the sky and close enough to where it looked as if it flew over the George Washington Memorial Highway, approximately .4 to .5 miles from our location. Note, this is in the flight path of the DCA Ronald Reagan National Airport, however checking flight records there were no arrival or departure flights during the time period of the sighting. Furthermore, this would have been directly over the airport and we would suspect it would be normal to not see aircraft from our vantage point as this was in direct path of the airport and craft would be taking off and landing from fields of view not within our sight path. Also the object was so bright it illuminated the buildings and ground that were around us, where a plane light would have not provided sufficient illumination. No noise was heard coming from the object either, it was a very quiet night, even for the relatively busy area we were in, and no aircraft noise or anything else affiliated with the craft could be heard. Using basic trigonometry with estimations for the angle of object (tangent) and perceived distance (adjacent) I would estimate the object was approximately 4,000 feet in the air (2,500 * tan(45) = height). In summary, I observed an unusually bright large blue/green rapidly moving fireball in the northern horizon above the George Washington Memorial Highway/DCA Reagan Airport moving East to West at approximately 4,000 feet. I believe an obvious explanation for the sighting would likely include a fireball meteor event, however, after observing multiple examples from youtube of meteors and fireballs each of these have a significant trail and are very high in the sky and rapidly fizzle out. This object was not fizzling out and was cruising along with a minimal haze or trail (I hesitate to say there was a trail) behind the object and was very low. I do realize the Southern Taurids meteor shower is technical active during the time period of the sighting, but it is not at its height of activity until October. I was unable to locate a database to identify whether any fireballs or meteor events were observable from my location during the time period of the sighting. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides little contact information. PD
September 16, 2017 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL
Lake Stevens, WA
On Saturday night, Sept 16, 2017, I had stepped out onto my deck to look at the clear night, and was facing North West through the trees. I saw a bright orange star that was different, and I watched it to see if it was an airplane or possibly a satellite. As I watched it, I noticed a smaller ball of light drop out of the "orb" or what ever it was. It was like a ball of fire dropped straight out of the "mother craft" and went to the ground. I half expected an explosion, but heard and saw nothing. Then it dropped another ball of fire, which also seemed to drop straight down for a while. It seems it may have veered to the left before dropping out of sight. Several seconds elapsed when it began to drop fire balls on a more rapid succession. The larger orb/star/satellite/ began to move slowly towards the south into a more westerly direction and began to be obscured by trees. I actually checked the news for reports of explosions or other witnesses, but haven't found any yet. The idea that it was an airplane fighting fires is debunked, as there are no fires burning to the west, and it wasn't an airplane, as it stayed stationary for quite a while. It wasn't fireworks, though it kind of reminded me of some upside down fireworks. It was way too high to have been fireworks, and again, no sound was heard. I researched some other photos and it looks exactly like what some describe as an orange Orb, however, I haven't seen anyone else report it dropping smaller balls of fire from its center. These smaller balls all went straight down towards the ground, but it seems some veered off as they got closer to the ground. I didn't have a full horizon as there is a small hill in the direction I saw the object.
September 16, 2017 · 9:15 PM · FIREBALL
Westover, WV
Jjust (coincidentally) coming back from point pleasant, WV, while we got out of the car this bright orange light was shooting across the sky, not fast enough to be a meteor or comet, after a few seconds and shotting some pictures I went on my phone to see what it was (I was thinking it was a satellite and the space app could tell me what it was), but as I looked for it again all I saw was a white stream of light that quickly vanished.
September 16, 2017 · 7:59 PM · FIREBALL
West Valley City, UT
At the redwood drive in facing east saw a light then it split to 2, thought shoot stars then bam it stopped met back with 1 st light then turned to 4 lights hovered for a few then went separate ways
September 15, 2017 · 10:10 PM · FIREBALL
Milwaukee, WI
Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
September 15, 2017 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL
Wildwood, NJ
@ the beach, so i didnt have a phone or camera, so unfortunately no photo or video, but I am hoping the drones that I saw there may have captured it. On 9/15/17 Almost immediately as the 10pm fireworks at moreys pier began is when we first noticed this light. We were standing in the center of the dry beach facing the pier, boardwalk to the left, the first light or"star"(looked just like Sirius in the sky,same size and brightnesss and seemingly IN the sky) appeared directly above the top of the fireworks, then began making fast radical manuevers, up, down, left, right, shooting forward then coming to a dead stop and hovering for 10-15secs, then abruptly flew towards inland and as it began to move, two more stars appeared ahead of it, the second set of stars tumbling around and bouncing off of and merging with each other, making the same speedy moves in the same direction, the two tumbling stars just out ahead of the first star for another 10-15secs, until they just blinked out. *note that there were also drones flying at that moment behind us (big red and green flashing lights hovering obviously much Much lower in altitude) as well as the helicopters that flew by moments later, NEITHER moved as fast or maneuvered they way this Star did*
September 13, 2017 · 9:45 PM · FIREBALL
Bethel Park, PA
Left local pub while walking to vehicle noticed in sky a very bright orange red object in sky heading from the east to a westerly heading (this direction gradually changed to a south heading ). It was considerably bright and seemed to dim somewhat after changing its direction. I would guess its closest distance from to be a quarter to half mile ( maybe closer ). It made no sound. This object had no navigation lights, it was a solid orange red color for the duration of the sighting. It was absolutely positively not a Chinese lantern. The cloud cover was low--it was actually drizzling slightly during this sighting and right after I explained to my gf that this object was not on a standard flight corridor, a commercial jet (737-ish ) flew right under where this object faded from view-the airliner flew on a normal flight corridor that I see everyday and was very plainly visible with attendant navigational lights and was also flying under cloud cover at normal for this area altitude (1000-3000 ft ) about 15 miles from Greater Pittsburgh International. Its jet engines were clearly audible. /// I am former military and former law enforcement. This was definitely an unusual sighting and I'll be curious if anyone else saw this object tonight.
September 10, 2017 · 10:30 PM · FIREBALL
New York City (Brooklyn), NY
My husband saw a glowing orange sphere travel east to west outside our large factory window. He told me to come see what he thought was a “helicopter on fire.” The object was large, at least the size of a helicopter. Planes coming and leaving La Guardia airport continued to fly in their usual paths. They were distinguishable as planes. This object was indistinguishable. It did not sparkle, but its colors shined with a twinkling quality, and its colors of orange and red rotated or mixed like lava. It hovered as I approached the window and stayed completely stationary for about three minutes above buildings at about half a mile away. It was soundless. My husband said the sphere appeared to be dropping debris. He saw glowing, orange debris drop four or five times. I saw it drop debris the last instance. The debris appeared to be liquid, like molten lava. It dropped about 20-30 feet and disappeared. The orange and red sphere was only a sphere. No tail, blade, or landing skids could be seen, which would have been illuminated had it been some kind of aircraft on fire. At this point, my husband began taking a video with his iPhone. I became very alarmed, thinking, if it were a helicopter, it would be going down, without question, because for that much debris to fall, the interior of the helicopter would have to be completely aflame. But there was no smoke and no actual flames. Just the look of something hot and burning, which grew slightly in intensity. The sphere seemed more to be emitting light than on fire. Finally, the sphere started flying upwards. We watched it ascend at a slight angle east another two minutes before it disappeared into far up into space traveling about as fast as a plane, but at an altitude much higher than we have seen planes fly.
September 10, 2017 · 10:19 PM · FIREBALL
Fairdale, KY
Green "fireball" with streak, East to West. While speaking to oldest daughter on phone *we both heard interference* Both heard 4x: 'nyet-nyet' as if it knew we were watching! All while pushing my youngest in stroller walking down our street
September 4, 2017 · 10:16 PM · FIREBALL
Middle River, MD
My car was parked in front of my house and the alarm randomly started going off. I went out to move it to a parking lot across the street (thinking perhaps the sensor is getting confused and a fast moving car set it off.) While coming back to my house, I stopped to admire the moon (it’s ALMOST full.) As I was standing there, something to the bottom right of the moon zoomed a bit, left a small white-ish trail, pulsed/zoomed again and left a looooong, thin fire trail and was GONE. The thin fire trail only lasted for a few seconds. It was a muggy, cloudy night out there tonight. No stars are visible, so I can’t believe it was a shooting star…. I have seen other strange things, but never reported them
August 28, 2017 · 11:00 PM · FIREBALL
O'Fallon, MO
We seen a bright orange fireball in the sky next to the moon. Shining a beam of light. Winghaven are disappeared in a instant.