Unusual Object in Los Angeles sky 2/24/07 about 7:30ish

[christer02]

Greetings,<br /> <br />I saw something I have never seen before in the skies over the Los Angeles basin. I was barbequeing dinner for my family in Cypress, California and was looking in the sky. There were several planes, a few starts out, etc. I was facing South (towards the ocean...we have South facing beaches in Orange County) and noticed what I though might be a plane coming from the west, though it looked a little odd. It wasn't bright and it did not have the lights you normally see on planes. It also appeared to be moving faster than a plane, but also seemed to be pretty high up. As it got closer, I noticed that it was only lighted in the direction that it was traveling and it seem to glow a faint orange color...almost like a very thin sliver of a cresent moon, but smaller and faint orange on the one side.. I could also see the object and it was quite dark (much darker than the sky around it which is fairly lit with Los Angeles lights and it was shaped sort of round, but not perfectly. It was almost like seeing a cresent of the moon, only about 1/8 the size and the cresent glowed faint orange. It looked like a glowing barbeque briquette, but not overly bright. It continued across the sky towards the east and then seemed to fade out of sight.<br /> <br />It made no noise that I could hear). I suppose it could have been some kind of debris, but it seemed to be one piece from what I could tell and it seemed fairly large. i<br /> <br /> It seemed much too big for a rocket or satellite (I have seen those in the distance and they are much smaller looking). <br /> <br />I saw nothing in the news, nothing on any website. But it was odd. I have never seen anything out of the ordinary in the skies at night before this and I was wondering if anyone else reported seeing it. <br /> <br />Thanks for any suggestions on what it might have been. <br /> <br />Sincerely,<br /> <br />Patrick Schmidt<br />

 

[CalliArcale]

When was this? Your description is reminiscent of photos of a recent space debris event. (A Russan rocket stage broke up unexpectedly and dramatically, creating a large debris cloud. Not sure if it would've been visible from your location, though.) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[christer02]

It was Sunday, February 24th at between 6:30 and 8:00 (I didn't look at the time). It didn't leave a trail at all, it just glowed orange in the direction that it was moving. It looked almost exactly like a round black lump burning (glowing) on one side.<br /><br />My thoughts on it have been an asteroid skimming the atmosphere (but nothing was in the news...and it seemed too large...scary large for that) or perhaps a military jet or rocket doing a fly over LA (if any are black and glow in the front). <br /><br />Pretty strange. I really wish someone else would have seen it. Like I said, I have never seen anything unusual in the sky in my life that wasn't easily explainable.<br />

 

[CalliArcale]

Here's a movie of the debris cloud; because of the way the cloud is illuminated, it could easily give a glowing coal-like impression, especially in light-polluted skies.<br /><br />http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070226.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[christer02]

Its possible it was something like that, except that it was exceptionally large (about 1/8 of a new moon). Much bigger than any of the stars around it. <br /><br />Thanks for the suggestion and the post of the movie. Perhaps it was a rocket.

 

[MeteorWayne]

How long did the whole event last? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[christer02]

It last about 45 seconds to maybe a minute and 1/2.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well, considering the area covered, that's too short for a satellite. Reentering space junk seems possible and it sounds like a very small object given your description.<br />A meteor seems unlikely, that's too long.<br /><br />Maybe it was the spatula <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[Boris_Badenov]

I think it was USS Voyager. I just saw that episode recently.<img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[christer02]

Thanks for the suggestions (yes, even the entertaining ones). I probably should just assume that I will never know what I saw...and it will drive me nuts. Oh well...

 

[MeteorWayne]

ce, no one familiar with the sky EVER sees fireballs. It's Murphy's law at it's finest <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>