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
January 3, 2016 · 6:15 PM · FIREBALL
Santee, CA
Hill obscured the eastern horizon so my view was blocked as it transitted eastward. Characteristics appear identical to green meteors described and videoed.
January 3, 2016 · 1:20 AM · FIREBALL
Newtown, CT
Saw a bright white burning object falling from sky to the ground from my car as I was travelling east on 84 it was "crashing" downward towards the ground to rhe left hand area of the highway.
January 2, 2016 · 11:47 PM · FIREBALL
Dickinson, ND
I am a truck driver seen bright flickering fireball dive almost straight toward the ground. It started out bright orange or amber and right before it disappears. It turned bright green. Object was quite large. Larger than a flare. Object was seen directly west maybe slightly southwest.
January 2, 2016 · 8:45 PM · FIREBALL
Billings, MT
It went from neon green to orange, like something on fire, then smokey grey, and then black, at which point you could no longer see it. My dad had just returned from the Holiday gas station where the cashier there had said to my dad "what was that" and then explained to him what he saw so when I was explaining it to him, he knew what I was talking about. Possible meteor from the Quadrantid Meteor shower? PD
January 2, 2016 · 3:00 AM · FIREBALL
Imperial Beach, CA
I was waken up and went straight outside and heard cats meowing, and when I look up in the the sky towards the South, there were two fireballs far apart but side by side gleaming in the night skies. Lasted about 20 minutes, then faded smaller and smaller into the hemisphere. It was a sight to see.
January 1, 2016 · 12:38 AM · FIREBALL
Fenton, MO
At about 12:38am in Fenton, Missouri, I saw a orange globe shaped light floating in the sky. Figuring it was a helicopter I thought nothing of it until I noticed no audible sound coming from the object. No later than a minute after another appeared from the same direction with a slow pace gliding through the sky.
January 1, 2016 · 12:20 AM · FIREBALL
Sacramento, CA
When getting out the car we've seen 3 more in a single file traveling at the same speed
January 1, 2016 · 12:15 AM · FIREBALL
Sacramento, CA
I stepped outside to celebrate midnight on new years. About 12:00:30, a bright red light came from the northeast horizon heading south. It moved fast like a jet or plane. It was very high like a plane. My first thought was "wow what a strange plane." Then the second one came across the horizon as if it was chasing the first. Few seconds later the second light fizzled out with a pulsing fade out. Then the other also started to pulse and fade out.
December 31, 2015 · 11:59 PM · FIREBALL
Eugene, OR
Went outside with my boyfriend on New Year's Eve at around 12:55PM to light some fireworks to celebrate the new year. While picking up the firework remnants, I noticed my boyfriend was staring up at the sky. There were fireworks, but when they stopped, four slow moving orange-ish orbs moving from east to west traveled across the sky. There were no flashing lights like a normal plane, and seeing fireworks just moments before, it was VERY clear these were not fireworks of any kind. We watched them for quite a while and they did not dissipate-- they simply traveled until they were out of view. For the most part they seemed spherical in nature, but if you focused closely they did appear to have some elongated part on the front. A man down the path we were on also noticed them. ((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS)) My name is ((deleted)). I submitted a sighting about 10 minutes ago. I made an error in the submission--the number of witnesses was 3, and the duration of time was 7 minutes--not the other way around. Sorry for the error! Just wanted to mail to make sure all the information is accurate! Thanks again! ((END ADDENDUM)) We have amended the report, as requested. PD
December 31, 2015 · 8:40 PM · FIREBALL
Menifee, CA
They had seen three fireballs, in a triangle formation (an upright triangle.) By the time I came out, one of the orbs had disappeared, leaving just two. These are the objects that I witnessed. They appeared to be balls of light, with an orange core flaring out to red. They moved very slowly, completely silently; they traveled in a south east direction, over the Menifee/Murrieta area, and then they slowly disappeared. They didn't simply pass beyond our line of sight, they seemed to almost burn out. Not sure what it was, but it would be nice to know.
December 31, 2015 · 8:00 PM · FIREBALL
Gadsden, AL
About 20:00 hours, a friend and I went outside to smoke. We were talking, when we noticed something big and orange in the sky. We went out to the street to get a better look. It traveled from north-northwest to southwest. Then about a minute later another one did the same, and traveled the exact same path. There was no sound or no tail like a comet or shooting star. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
December 30, 2015 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL
Cle Elum, WA
2 objects glowing orange traveling north/northeast went in and grabbed my dad and son so they could see as well, when they came out we all witnessed 5-7 more objects traveling the same path and speed, the last two objects were traveling a little quicker and changed their flight path just slightly but still traveling same direction. They seemed to be about a mile and a half away (relatively on the Stuart range/dingbat basin area) no sound whatsoever came from objects.
December 29, 2015 · 8:07 PM · FIREBALL
Palmetto, FL
My husband and I were sitting outside by our canal, super clear, dark night, when we saw a fireball coming from the South heading North. I asked my husband, “What is that?” He looked up and said, “Wow, that’s weird – looks like something on fire.” It was totally quiet as it passed over us, straight line, no jumping around, seemed about as high as a helicopter, no tail, looked like moving orange flames in an orb shape moving about the speed of a small plane. I took a quick picture before it passed behind a large 2-story house and out of our view, but the picture doesn’t do it justice.
December 29, 2015 · 3:05 PM · FIREBALL
Walnut Creek, CA
I put on my glasses, & woke my husband so that a second person could witness the object as well. He seemed as astonished & perplexed as I was. The 2nd ball caught up to the 1st. The seems to hover at the same height for a few moments, then the second one vanished. The first did more of a shrink, or slow fade until it seemed to be nothing more than a small, red, pulsing star on a descent. Finally it disappeared altogether. No noise accompanied the sighting. A few minutes later an aircraft flew by across the night sky, with its usual blinking wingtip lights. Based on the aircraft's position & size, the balls of light flew much higher into the sky & were much larger.
December 26, 2015 · 8:00 PM · FIREBALL
Sarasota, FL
There was no visible lights on the object and no sound.
December 25, 2015 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL
Moncks Corner, SC
My husband, my children (7 and 5), my father in law and myself were heading out from the grands house around 10:00 PM Christmas night. My father in law was sitting in the drive, waiting for us to come out to take us home when he noticed what he at first glance thought was a plane with an engine on fire. Mind you my father-in-law worked in law enforcement for 25+ years here in our town. He has actually witnessed a small plane go down. Upon looking he noticed that there were two more just like it trailing the first in almost an uneven triangular shape with a fourth trailing even further behind on the right. There was also no sound at all. He had no explanation for what he was seeing. At this time my family and myself were walking out to greet him and pile in the car to go when he started to tell us what he had seen. We then looked up (naturally) to see exactly what he was talking about and sure enough we caught the fifth and last fireball looking orb. It had momentum and seemed to be moving in a direction. They all went in the same direction. The one my husband and my kids witnessed as well as myself was completely silent. There were planes all in the sky and you could clearly identify them just by looking and listening, but this orb like ball was different. If you stared at it, it looked as if the entire thing was on fire and it kind of bobbed as it was moving forward. It never lost or gained altitude. It just traveled across the sky until completely out of sight. My kids were excited and wanted to know what we had just seen.. All I could tell them was that (because of their ages) it was Santa and Rudolph going back home to the North Pole after visiting the children in the US. My husband and I were baffled and dumbfounded, but I found the whole experience exciting, especially because my odds of ever witnessing that again are slim to none.
December 25, 2015 · 7:00 PM · FIREBALL
Greene, NY
Three fireballs made a triangular pattern and a couple more flew overhead- the objects made a burning sound. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
December 24, 2015 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL
Plum, PA
We were out side with the children put oats out for the deer when my youngest son noticed the full moon. As we looked at the clear sky I saw a very large redish "star". I thought it was Mars. My friend pointed out 2 additional very bright stars one directly above and the other below. They were bright orbs perfectly lined up and they hovered for a few min. They all started to rise higher in the sky where they flickered out one at a time when they got up to the same spot in the sky. They were not stars nor jets. I have never seen anything so beautifully mysterious. I am certin what I saw was a ufo.
December 24, 2015 · 7:20 PM · FIREBALL
Kalispell, MT
saw 3 fiery balls come in from the south, in a straight line. Could make out the detail of the fire trailing them.between 500 and 1000 ft in altitude. Once they got over my house they turned towards the NW, headed for Eureka, MT. Within a few seconds of losing sight of them, there were three bright flashes, around 8 seconds apart.
December 24, 2015 · 3:00 AM · FIREBALL
London (Canada), ON · Canada
We suspect a sighting of one of the planets, which we believe are still visible in the eastern morning sky. PD
December 23, 2015 · 9:15 PM · FIREBALL
Concord, CA
Walking my friend to her car at 915pm in Concord, California, we looked up in the sky and a sky lantern or what looked like a floating candle was moving around about 100 feet off the ground and then went behind a tree then took off towards the moon.
December 23, 2015 · 9:00 PM · FIREBALL
Tucson, AZ
I saw a large white object with red around the edges that I thought may be a runaway lantern that was on fire. The object then headed North East, shrunk down to the size of a star or a plane light, moved in straight line, then disappeared. I live near the base, but there was no aircraft noise. I tried to take a photo once I pulled into my driveway. It does not appear but does show a streak of a light tinged red.
December 22, 2015 · 7:12 PM · FIREBALL
Bullhead City, AZ
Witnessed four separate balls of fire entering the atmosphere. It looked just like the pictures that were shown on TV when the space shuttle fell apart entering the atmosphere. I did notice different colors in the tails directly behind each piece and each piece left vapor trails. Re-entering space debris. PD
December 22, 2015 · 6:45 PM · FIREBALL
Goleta, CA
Sitting in my backyard patio at twenty past dusk talking to a friend on the phone: I saw what appeared to be a slow meteor. I would estimate a velocity of under 20K km/hr but greater than 5K km/hr. The fireball appeared over the coast range of mountains to the northeast at an elevation of about 25 degrees. It proceeded on a level trajectory for a very long minute and a half or so to the SSE. It did not dim or brighten until the end of the ionization track at which point the somewhat fuzzy ion track appeared to break up and spray out a little as it dimmed and went out. This ion source did not leave a trail of any kind, it burned through the sky and was gone. Other fireball meteors I have seen have left ion trails and sometimes smoke trails. This one didn't. Would this suggest a (nuke power perhaps?) satellite reentry? Most likely not as I would expect a significant glowing smoke trail at this time of day. Having witnessed multiple rocket launches from Vandenberg I know very much what they look like going up. Re-entering space debris. PD