A Florida couple is debating what could have been a meteor in the sky at 9:32 p.m. on March 30, 2010, after observing the object as a "green fireball" and under 1,500 feet, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.
"We are long time astronomy fans, and we have seen many meteors," the reporting witness stated. "At the same time, we've never seen a green meteor (made of copper?) We were also both were surprised about how slow the object seemed to move. I'd compare it to the speed of a single engine prop plane, at an altitude of 1000-1500 feet up."
The object was described as the size of a pencil eraser held at arm's length.
The UFO Examiner previously reported on a green fireball in: TX, June 19, 2009 - Bright green fireball shoots to the ground over Azle, Texas. This is the second story within the UFO Traffic Report on that linked page. The next story in that same report is: OH, June 9, 2009 - Bright green fireball followed by falling star.
The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Florida MUFON State Director G. Bland Pugh investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update.
FL, March 30, 2010 - slow moving green fireball. MUFON Case # 22579.
My wife and I were just sitting out side enjoying the beautiful evening. When at 9.32pm we saw this bright green fireball in the sky.
We noticed the object at about an elevation of about 85 degrees, and it continued until it passed the horizon.
If it was a meteor, we never heard any crash and we didn't see anything on the news about it today. Also, the magnitude (brightness) of the object never wavered.
We are long time astronomy fans, and we have seen many meteors. At the same time, we've never seen a green meteor (made of copper?) We were also both were surprised about how slow the object seemed to move. I'd compare it to the speed of a single engine prop plane, at an altitude of 1000-1500 feet up.
The object was about the size of a pencil eraser at a arms length.
I made a little diagram of what we saw...the dotted green line represent the path of the object.
Comments
I saw it from my plane window... an internet search brought me here
You can report it to the American Meteorological Society (do a google search)
Check back in a day or two, maybe someone else will report it from a different location.
I have seen green meteors twice. One back in the mid 90s actually lit up the ground and was bright enough to cause a moving shadow of the tree on our front lawn!! It shot slowly from south to north over Detroit from Windsor Ontario!!
The details of your having seen this fireball could prove important for those searching for any meteorites that may have reached the ground. If you are interested in providing additional details, such as where you were when you saw the fireball, or in the case of the airplane passenger, what flight you were on, and which direction you were looking, those data could be important. I would suggest you send any info you can to lebofsky-at-lpl.arizona.edu [Use the '@' sign in place of the '-at-'.]
My father was an astronomer/astrophotographer. Now I have never seen a green meteor myself, they are apparently very rare. I remember Dad saying something about they are caused by large particles hitting the atmosphere and causing high amount of ionized oxygen. Those of you who saw it lucky you.
Fireballs and Bolides are very common. The word Bolide comes from the Greek ?????, (bolis) which can mean a missile or to flash, so can be impressive if not disturbing to people not familiar with astronomical science. I, being an amateur astronomer AND a UFO investigator have direct experience with 40 years of meteor showers and such first hand. Although I imagine an intelligent UFO pilot might be able to simulate such common phenomena, more likely what people will see are the common astronomical events on-going since time immemorial on this and all other planets.
BTW, I have seen Green, Blue and red, yellow meteoric activity. Green is striking and you never forget those. Material components of meteors will all have different colors depending on their composition. You can find lots of information on line about these types of phenomena.
"We were also surprised about how slow the object seemed to move. I'd compare it to the speed of a single engine prop plane"
I am an amateur astronomer and have spent many nights star-gazing, and I have to say, there is no way, no way at all a meteor at any altitude moves at the leisurely pace described. I'd ask the witnesses about that velocity estimate, and if they were certain of it, and if so, this was no meteor. No way.
They travel in streaks, I saw a sloooow one that covered about 12 to 14 degrees in a little over a second. If they watched this thing for more than a few seconds, I'd say it was an unknown.
I was led to this page by a Google search for news reports about this phenomenon because I saw one last night. The object was about the size of a golf ball to the naked eye and moving slowly at a low altitude. It did not leave a trail and was very, very bright, almost a neon green. It moved from north to south and burned out just over the horizon.
I have no illusions that it was a UFO (in either sense of the word), but I most admit after a lifetime spent star-gazing, it was the first time I'd seen anything like it. A wondrously beautiful sight. Wish there was a definitive answer on what it was!
One type of meteor can take 15 or 20 seconds to cross the sky, that would be the ones that hit our atmosphere at such a mild angle they bounce back into space, not hitting the ground at all. There was a bright green one in 1999 or 2000 (?) seen in seven states, it looked like a string of burning green lights and took a while to transit. But it was 80 to 100 miles high. These folks estimated an altitude of about 1500 feet, so this 'meteor' wasn't an earth-grazer.
For meteor/meteorite news please see The Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News: www.lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com Thank you!
ive been searching a while to figure out what exactly it was and my search also led me here. but i saw the same thing!!! i was driving on Congress ave. @95 heading south when i saw it descending slowly westward but never heard or saw a crash and also nothing on the news. im glad im not the only one, i was begining to think i imagined it lol plus it was green which i thought was odd. it was actually funny b/c i was on the.phone with a friend talking about the upcoming Geminid meteor shower which he was all excited since.hes a Gemini when it hapoened...freaky !
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