NUFORC Sighting 24954

Occurred: 2002-09-07 20:30 Local
Reported: 2002-09-09 05:07 Pacific
Duration: 1 second
No of observers: 1

Location: Jacksonville, FL, USA

Shape: Flash
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Left a trail

Object appeared as a slow moving shooting star, that performed an "S" manuver before vanishing from sight

Ok, my wife and I were attending a BBQ at a co-workers house in a near-by neighborhood to ours. Everyone was sitting around in a circle on the driveway, with me being the only one with a direct (I beleave easternly) view of the night sky. I first became aware of the object as a firey streak in the upper perferial vision of my left eye. Thinking it was a shooting star, I quickly looked up, and indeed saw what appeared to be a very brightly lit and slow moving shooting star, (about 4 - 5 times the speed of a jet seen flying at high altitude) leaving an endouring firey trail in its wake. Just as I was about to dismiss the event as an "identified object", my shooting star executed a series of very quick and very tight course changes resembling the letter "S" just before vanishing, more like "burning out". No one else seemed to see it, and I didn't mention it, knowing that most people do not respond with an open mind. I am a military member, who is accustomed to seeing all types of aircraft. I know what I saw.

Posted 2002-09-13