NUFORC Sighting 13313

Occurred: 2000-07-07 21:22 Local
Reported: 2000-07-07 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 5

Location: Red Bluff, CA, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Left a trail, Emitted beams, Changed Colo

We were driving south on Interstate 5 when we witnessed it. Other cars were pulling off the road also, to observe.

At first it looked like a comet with a long bright white tail, then the tail increased in length and even more it widened at to at least 20 times the original size. The "head" then moved forward and let out a second burst of tail in front of the first. Then the "head" seemed to explode and disappear. The tails remained visible for a long time (many minutes)after. As the tails faded they were replaced by a flourescent aqua blue glow. There were 4 in our car; one retired firefighter, one hospital department director, two college students. One person stopped alongside us was an seismic activity researcher, we didn't get his name but his license plate was from Oregon "((license deleted))".

NUFORC Note:

Missile launch from Vandenberg AFB. PD

Posted 2000-07-11