I have received a few reports about a bright fireball seen across California. Sightings have been sent in from San Francisco to San Diego. There is some disagreement on the time with some people saying it occurred on January 18 around 5:40 pm PST and others saying it happened on January 19 around 4 am PST. So perhaps we are talking about 2 unrelated but spectacular fireballs, the evening one was seen over southern California while the morning one was a northern CA object.
Neither of these fireballs are related to the one seen over northern Europe a few days ago.
Based on the number of hits I’ve been getting the last 2 days and the number of people of people who found this blog by searching for info about a California fireball, this must have been seen by many folks. Please post what you saw in the comments section. Thanks.
The Transient Sky - Comets, Asteroids, Meteors 
I saw this, I would say it was around 5:33-5:35 PM on the evening of January 18th 2009. I was heading Northbound on Sepulveda Blvd I had just crossed Burbank in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. I saw the bright light on my right side of the car which is east, from my view point i would say it was about 70 degrees up.
Yes, I was driving down Hollywood blvd @ approximately 5:35pm. I was looking toward the Northeast sky and saw a beam of light shoot out from the sky. It turned blue-ish red with a green tint. The meteorite or fireball was very large and broke into pieces when it hit our atmosphere. It left a vivid mile long trail that was bright white. I was in shock and thought a small planet just hit earth. Not to mention it was still a bit light out because the sun had not fully set yet. It was spectacular.
Also saw this from Washington Blvd. in Marina del rey, walking eastbound,
same time .. Flaring across , then petered out suddenly.
Spectacular, looked like fireworks except for the very linear path,
nearly horizontal.
I was walking the dogs and my daughter and I saw it. It travelled west to east – maybe wwn to ese, burnt bright white to blue colour. It was very bright. 5.30 pst is about the correct time, as it was twilight.
We were traveling on motorcycle on the 57 east when we saw it and it was huge, like a branch of those trailing white fireworks. super bright and long. bright bluish/white color streak across the sky. it was around 5:30-5:40ish. just beautiful! i’ve never seen anything like it. it appeared to be so close!
Sorry… the 57 north… that was a typo…
I was sitting in my garden watching the early evening sky when this spectacular event occured right in front of me. It was traveling west to east about the 2-3 o’clock range and lasted 4-5 seconds. It was about the width of my finger held out in front of me. It was a variety of brilliant colors the spectrum of the rainbow, I supposed from the just setting sun. It was so large and clear and lasted so long that for a moment I was fearful that it was going to hit on the other side of the hills.
It was really amazing. I have never seen anything close to this except for special effects in the movies.
Sunday, January 18, 2009, Mar Vista, Los Angeles, around sunset. I looked out of my office window into the sky and saw a silver colored fireball/ meteor falling down on a straight, diagonal path at a 45 degree angle leaving a bright trail. The event lasted about a second before the object disappeared behind a row of trees- it seems difficult to guess its actual size.
I saw a fireball Sunday, January 18th at about 5:33 P.M. I was travelling south on SR 99, north of Yuba City (40 miles north of Sacramento). I saw the fireball in the southeast at roughly 10 – 15 degrees above the horizon. From my point of view, it appeared to be moving north to south.
My son and I saw a bright blue/white fireball Sunday (1/18) evening between 5:30 – 5:40. From our home in Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica Mts. it seemed to be going from the northeast to the southeast on a fairly low, flat trajectory. Neat!
I was driving southbound on Hwy 101 between San Jose and Morgan Hill at about 5:35 PM on Sunday January 18, when I saw an incredibly bright white, blue, and even some green flash across the sky. It was rather low, and to the south/southeast, moving left to right. I will say with all attempted modesty that I am just a a very amateur astronomer, interested in things of this nature for my 40+ years. But never have I seen such a bright event as this one. The sun had only been set for about 15 minutes, so there was ample light in the sky, making the brightness of this event even more noteworthy. It was also much, much wider than the average meteor streak. How beautiful it was!
We spotted it from the SF Bay Area – driving south on HWY 280 around Woodside. The sky was still somewhat daylight – so it was very odd to see something so bright in the day sky. It was in the eastern sky, seemingly traveling south?? It seemed so close to the earth that we expected it to hit the ground somewhere. I only saw bright white, no colors, and didn’t see it burn out – just disappear behind some hills.
I saw this coming down the 1 from Bodega Bay (sonoma coast) It was January 18 about 530 pm. Like a shooting star, but much much brighter than any I have ever seen (especially as it was still somewhat light out)…It was so large I was sure it had come down within a few miles of me…truly amazing.
yeah i saw it too! it had beautiful colors and it was so big! it was at 5:30, on Jan 18th, 2009. i saw it in Whittier, Ca! i wish i could’ve taped it or something!
11:23pm, facing north on Highway 1 between Marina and Castroville, California. Nice green flare shooting shoutheast to northwest less than 7 degrees plus or minus from true north.
Geen flare was followed by a smaller green glowing object that seemed to eject from the flare. If it survived to impact it must have landed along the Alaskan/Canadian border.
My friend and I were hiking near Hesperia up from the Deep Creek Hot Springs and saw a bight light shoot across the sky and burn out in 4 different colors. It was so close! We saw it yesterday, January 18th at about 5:30 or 5:45 PM. It was beautiful!
My wife and I saw it (or one of them?) for just a few seconds while driving south on CA 1 in Nipomo, California at about 5:40 PM on Jan. 18. The term “fireball” seems most appropriate, trailing bright sparks and smoke. Elevation was about 30 degrees and the path seemed to go from left to right (E to W) and descending. It appeared to be very close but based on all the other reports, probably wasn’t.
I was walking out of a store in Torrance and just by chance, looked up and seen this very bright streak go across the northeastern sky. I believe it was around 5:45, but I do know that it lasted a good couple of seconds. It was blue/yellow/orange and had a very long tail of bright white. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen it, but no one did. I tried to see if they would mention it on the news, but they did not.
Seen north-northeast from Chino Hills roughly 5:40ish, travelling west to east apprx 50deg elevation. Saw from corner of my eye, looked up in time to see large bright fireball with flaring corona, just before it faded from visible, midfield. Maybe 1 sec or a little more of viewing.
Apparent size of a dime held at arm’s length, or a bit smaller. Wow!
Saw it! I was on a rooftop club in downtown Los Angeles. Probably about an hour before sunset. I believe I was looking northeast from the standard lounge. The fireball passed behind the citibank building and sustained a radiating flash until it was lost behind another building directly to its right. It was truly dazzling. Got my heart going!
It was too large to be a shooting star and too silvery white. We conjectured that it may have been a satellite. However, it actually looked a good bit like the the meteor caught on video over Scandinavia. See link:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=scandinavia+meteor&search_type=&aq=1
Did anyone capture any video of it? I can’t stop thinking about it!
Saw it in St. George, UT (2 hrs. west of Las Vegas) at 6:30MT. It was dark by then here, and the display was incredible, just as described as others here, though maybe less dramatic at this distance.
I was about 30 minutes east of Sacramento driving south on Latrobe Rd around 5:30pm. Me & mom saw it together. Couldn’t miss it, we where looking directly at it. Very exciting.
My husband and I saw it ! We were in the city of Van Nuys, San Fernando Valley, Circuit city parking lot. It was around 5:30pm. Never seen anything like it. It was like an enormous fireball going at a very fast speed. I hope someone captured it on video.
I live in Hollywood and about 5:40pm I was driving east on franklin right by Birds…i saw a bright blue green light shoot downward through the sky…. It was amazing!
Hi this may seem weird but, a few months before Dan Rathers left the CBS Evening news, on one of his broadcasts he (Dan Rathers) said to mark your calader for Febuary 9th 2009 that the earth was going to get hit by a Meteor, now for this person too say this (Dan Rathers) with his reputation as a well know news broadcaster, I believed what he was saying and have since, however nothing more was said about this ( I am sure as not too cause a panic) so anyways I thought I would share this and perhaps someone out there knows something that we the public does not and perhaps they want to keep it as a cover up?
I wished I had some pictures or video. I’ve been lucky enough to see something like this twice! The first time was driving through Arizona (while moving from the east coast to L.A.) and saw a very similar streak through the sky in the early morning. That was roughly June 17th or 18th 2004.
I saw another fireball Monday evening in the South sky around 7:00 pm, when I was driving on Hwy 49, North of Truckee and Lake Tahoe.
It appeared first as a very bright shooting star and then exploded into a fireball when it entered our atmosphere? or when it got closer to earth? I have never seen something like this and so I was wondering if it was a satellite burning up. But “fireball” is the best description I think. Any help in this matter would be appreciated.
Amazing people saw this from as far away as SF and Sacramento.
I saw the fireball from Lake Forest. At first I thought it was an ICBM, it was so big and bright, and the smoke trail was very pronounced in the late afternoon light. I’ve never seen a meteor like this, it was surreal and Im still thinking about it today. What a show from mother nature!
Saw this with my friend who posted #16 above. It was truly amazing to witness this while hiking through the high desert at twilight … I got chills again just reading about it.
I saw the fireball on Monday, January 19th (last evening). I live in Mesa, Arizona and I was sitting on my back balcony relaxing looking up at the clouds at 5:44 pm MST (Arizona time). I was just enjoying the nice temperatures and happened to be looking right up in the direction where the fireball occured. All of a sudden a really bright bluish-white light started streaking across the sky, almost straight above me going from northeast to southwest. It left a white tail and lasted only 2-3 seconds, but it was spectacularly bright. Since it was 5:44, the sun was setting at the time and the fireball occured against a blue sky. At the end it broke into about four pieces and fizzled out. As I searched the internet last night for places to report my sighting, I was amazed to find out that another very similar fireball happened the day before too. Wow!
Traveling Northeast on Hwy 4, a mile before Murphy’s CA at 6:08 pm 1/19/2008 in the eastern sky at about 70 degrees vertical, lasted just a second or two but did see yellew-orange trail, so much more than a shooting star
A friend and I were driving home from southern California back to Northern California on Hwy 99. It was probably somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30; we had just left the town of Turlock, heading north on 99 when I looked out of the passenger window to see a bright light. I thought it was a plane at first and was alarmed because it’s trajectory was downward and very fast. Immediately I saw that it was a round fiery object with a tail, like a meteor or a comet of some sort.
my friends and i were riding motorcycles to Jawbone Store in Mojave. We saw what look like a meteor right over our heads. it looked so close. Sunday jan 18th, 2009 around 5:30
I saw it on january 19th around 10 pm. I was out walking my dog and I saw it. 2 other people who were riding by on bikes saw it too. So I’m pretty sure that gets rid of any chance of my eyes fooling me. Its odd because my dad saw a similar object a few months ago we both described it as big and moved kind slow for a split second then just took off. It was a nice thing to see but I’m not so sure it was a once in a life time event. If anyone wants to share they’re stroy please don’t hesitate to reach me at fonzo359@gmail.com
I happen to be star gazing out my window @ around 11:42 p.m. jan 18 ,2009 and witnessed a brillant falling meteor.The color displayed a florescent blueish-green explosion ! Truly an eye-candy treat for a lifetime ! Needless to say I made a wish.
I saw the first fireball. It was between 5:30 and 5:35 p.m.; I called someone to tell them about it at 5:35 p.m., according to my cell phone. I only happened to see it because I was driving in exactly the right direction as I went over a curved overpass in Northridge, CA. It looked very close to the ground, and was blue/white. I could actually see it break into a few pieces in the terminal burst! It was the most beautiful meteor I’ve ever seen.
Strange, I was looking for anyone posting about a falling star on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at about 11:15 pm. I was driving on the 405 North near the National exit, and my friend and I both saw a bright blueish white light that looked like a star falling straight towards the earth. It sort of sparked and faded out a few yards above trees and buildings. Interesting I saw this account and not the one earlier in the day.
January 20, 2009 as a co-worker and myself were on our way home from work traveling from work at 11:15 a very brite streak was falling from the sky towards earth very slowily we both seen it at the same time and made a wish. This location is Quincy, Florida a little city near Tallahassee, Florida traveling Highway 90 North. This was the same day of the Inarguration of President Barak Obama. Maybe this was a good sign “Change”.
I was driving west at approximately 6:30pm Arizona time on sunday, January 18, 2009, and saw this very bright object as well. So glad to find others who saw it as well. It was pretty awesome!
I SAW IT NEAR lax ON sUNDAY EARLY EVENING……jAN 18, ABOUT 5 30 OR SO……..IT WAS HUGE, LOW AND BLUE AND WHITE TAILED…..IVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO THIS IN MY LIFE
Sunday Jan 18th at about 5:30 pm I was standing outside of the Barstow Community College. My son just finished his Basketball Game and I went outside for some fresh air. I just happened to be looking into the sky when out of nowhere this huge fireball flashes across the sky. Kind of scared me at first. At the very end I could see it breaking into pieces followed by a Contrail. Very spectacular, felt like it was close. It was pretty cool to see!
yeah! ! ! i new i wasn”t that drunk ! ! i saw it to in southern california city of bell california to be exact , the time i am not sure of but it must have been 5pm closer to six, because the reason i saw it i was BBQ’ing during the AFC championship game steelers vs. Baltimore, all of sudden i was taking a drink of my beer tilting my head back when i saw this awesome light in the sky, looked like a giant sky rocket just traveling horizotally instead of vertical. it was quick, i shouted at others to look but it was gone in matter of seconds, then i was ridiculed for the rest of the night until now.! ! ! i have prooff thanks
I live in sf at the southern end of Lake Merced and was on my deck when i saw the fireball, with a greenish glow.. it seemed travelling south and kind of low… there have been quite a few of these things entering the atmosphere I think…
This was on the 18th I believe just a while after the sun went down.
I saw the fireball as well, at around 5:40 pm on the 18th. I was driving on I-5 going south, about 50 or so miles north of Crow’s Landing. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but fireball is about as close as one can say. It had a tail, and even in my car I could hear a loud ‘swoosh’ sound. Then it was over really quickly. Crazy!
I saw this too!! We were walking Northeast into a grocery store in Cypress, CA. I just happened to look up and see it. It was 5:30ish. Don’t remember exactly. It was very bright and happened so fast. It seemed so close. It was a very cool thing to see. I’m glad so many people saw it.
Did anyone see the object in the early this morning. It was exactly 12:00 am. I pulled over to watch it and called my husband. I cannot find any information on this. It did not move like an asteroid, meteor it was very slow moving and did not have a firey tail. A trail of intermintant sparks would come from it but not constant. It just glided in real slow, then it just kinda fell from the sky the closer it got. I called the local airports, Los Alamitos Base, Seal Beach Weapons Range, and NOTHING !! I really thought it was a small plane crashing. I seem to be the only one who saw this object in the sky !! I am not crazy .. I live in Southern California and I spotted the object at 12:00 am on January 31st. I was facing North on Springdale Street, in Huntington Beach. Anyone ????
I dont know if this is relevent, But I saw a similar Object on January 30th near south Chula Vista almost near the border. It stayed in the same area in the sky for hours, with a slight trail of movement. Didnt seem like a plane of any sort.
Last night (January 31), My husband & I were driving on Crow Cranyon Road in Castro Valley, CA (Bay Area) around 10:20pm. We saw a fire ball moving quickly on the horizon. I looked like a plane on fire that was about to crash. It went down past the horizon and we didn’t see anything after that. Thinking it was a plane crash, we expected to see an explosion or something, but we didn’t see anything. Nothing was reported on the news. Did anyone else see this in our area?
Hello!
I was on the phone on my front steps in the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco around 8pm last night (Sunday Feb. 1st) when I happened to glance up at the dark sky. I was surprised to immediately zero in on a bright, blazing and rather large, silver-white object falling – in a straight line – towards the Earth. It appeared to have a round shape with a bluish outline at its center. I was facing Northwest. No sound accompanied the object and I was only able to follow its trajectory for a few seconds, as a building prevented my from following it’s descent to the ground.
Did anyone else see this. I’m unsure as to whether it was a meteorite or, perhaps, a flare?
Yes!
I was driving north on 880 about 8pm last night (2/1/09) and saw the same thing! At first, I thought it was a plane crashing, since I had just left the Oakland airport but then it just kind of disappeared as it went down. I assumed it must have been a “falling star” and was surprised that I didn’t hear anything about it on the news last night. It was very bright, appeared very close, and was falling straight down. Was anyone else on 880 when they saw it?
I was driving on 101 north around Soledad toward Salinas when this huge object with a very long tail sped across the sky directly in front of me then disappeared. I could see “sparks” coming off the tail. It was probably 8 times larger than any other faliing star I have ever seen in my life. WOW!! I wanted to stop the other travelers that were on the highway with me because it was so amazing. I looked on the internet when I got home a couple of hours later but couldn’t find anything.
That amazing falling star was at 7:38 p.m.
Feb 1, 2009- early evening.I live in Scotts Valley near Santa Cruz. I was sitting withfriends after watching the Superbowl. I have big windows and what looked like a big Shooting Star or Meteorite shot across my vision area going down in the Northwest Sky. It was the second largest Shooting Star I’ve ever seen and appeared Bright Green. I have only seen something as large as this once before and Never Green like this one.
I saw the same thing! I shot up from my couch and went outside to see if there was an impact. When nothing happened, I assumed it was a meteor headed out to sea.
Definately the biggest meteor I’ve ever seen. I was like War of the Worlds 🙂
I saw the same thing, only from McKinleyville, up in Humboldt County, and we were facing south. It looked like it was traveling from south east to northwest. At first it looked like a fast moving plane, then it got larger, turned brighter orange, then suddenly expanded and turned from orange to green before it exploded. It produced a spectacular shower of large green “sparks”. It looked almost like a firework had been set off but it was way to big and the direction was all wrong. I’ve never seen anything so large, nor last so long as it traveled across the night sky. It was really spectacular!
I saw this same thing over in south san francisco. Close to 280. I was outside and it looked like it was traveling very fast and appeared to have a large tail.
I saw it while driving north on 85 near Cupertino around 7:30 PM. It was just as described by L.A. (comment 49). The cars on the freeway slowed down, causing me to brake as well.
My daughter and i were headed south on highway 101, near garberville,,in humboldt county..at 7:38pm. Just after the superbowl.
We first noticed what we thought looked like a large falling star. Traveling west towards the ocean. It became larger with orange and blue flames and long tail. It didnt seem to explode,,just got bigger,,from our view..This was the biggest we have ever seen. Cherie and Quinn
Several of us saw the same thing while standing around a firepit after the superbowl in Cotati, California. I pointed and yelled “Look, look, look!!” It was spectacular.
I saw it too!!! Just past 7:30pm coming home from a Superbowl party going west on Hwy4; spotted it in the Northwest sky. Definitely the biggest and longest I had ever seen! It was amazing. Just wish I could have recorded it somehow!
I saw the superbowl meteorite from highway 89 near Hat Creek. From my angle it looked like it would have landed somewhere between Burney and Redding. Does anyone know if it hit?
i was just coming up to Page + Masonic in SF with my girlfriend and we both saw it. yeah that looked bigger than any shooting star i’ve ever seen. i thought it had to have landed in the ocean. it was so close! and it happened so fast. but yeah maybe redding…i’d really like to know.
We were traveling south bound on 101 going southbound from smith river california. It was moving very fast and was very big. It started white then turned green and then yellow before it disappeared. It was 7:38 p.m. By far the coolest thing we’ve ever seen. We thought it had to of landed somewhere in humboldt county.
I live in Lake County, Ca. I had guests one of whom is a street astronomer who was setting up his telescope for his wife and myself on the evening of Feb 1st to view the sky. I have 180 degree panoramic view. Out of the east from behind up traveling southwest, the fireball proceeded across the lake and then burned out or disappeared. It was approximately 1/5 the size of the moon, there was ‘jagged’ green ‘flames’ on the front of the meteor. The ball white to yellow outlined in red. There was orange out of the back of it, and the tail was red which extended from where we were, across the lake lasting for only a seconds. It was huge, spectacular – what a treat!
I live in Roseville, Ca. and I was leaving a superbowl party heading west on
interstate 80. I thought it was a shooting star then realized by the color and
size that it had to be a meteorite. It was truly amazing. I am glad that I was not the only person who saw it. (I was driving by myself)
I live in South San Diego and saw 3 fireballs at about 6:45 pm, 2/12/2009, traveling southeast towards Mexico. When I noticed them, there were only 2 traveling parallel to each other – at first I had thought they were planes or missles but there were no distinguishing sounds. Seconds later a 3rd fireball appeared traveling at 45 degrees towards the two and then it disappeared. I eventually lost sight of the two fireballs as it passed over the hills which blocked further viewing. Whatever it was, I was amazed.
I just saw some bright orange flashes coming from the sky when I was coming down 280 pagemill area headed towards san jose. This was about 2:00am
Native San Diegan… My 13yo son and I saw the very same thing you did and at the very same time as well. We were just leaving his guitar lesson and we stood and watched the two (then three) fire balls falling.
That third one “burned out” before I lost sight of the two bigger ones.
I did see the 3 fireballs on 2/12/09 in san diego ca, 3 minutes away from the international border around 6 45 pm it was amazing they were traveling very fast 2 in front one in the back leaving sparks behind, and at a sudden point they stand on the sky and lost sight of them
Hi,
I am in Santa Barbara and I was looking out the window which is on
the 2nd floor and I noticed this fireball as well.I know what a shooting star looks like and this was not that.I sa it on Thursday feb 12th.
It looked exactly like the picture that I saw on the news.I would love to know if anyone else in Santa Barbara saw it.
thanks Debbie
Also one this morning while I was driving on the 605N going to work….approx 6:20am, NE corner (disappeared behind mountains) a very long streak heading staight down. White with a tail. Looked very far out, so couldnt make anything out except for a head, and tail. Confirmed by my wife 3 cities over. THE SKY IS FALLING!! LOL
What the hell is goin on man? Didn’t use to be this way!
My friend and I were walking home in Laguna Beach on February 18, 2009 and saw a bright red fireball run across the sky. We thought it landed in the hills above Laguna Canyon. I even called the Sheriff’s Office to ask if anyone else had seen it. Did anyone else see this Laguna Beach fireball??? My friend and I want to know we are not crazy!
On February 12th My husband and I were driving home from work. We were going Southbound on the 805 in San Diego. At about 6:40 I saw three very bright red/orange color lights fall from the sky in the south/east of Chula Vista. I thought they were planes at first but the fell through the sky quickly. They were round in shape. Did anyone else see this? Am I crazy? My husband was asleep and by the time i got his attention he could not see what i was screaming about.
Walking my dog at around 9:00 pm local time on 24FEB09 in northern Escondido, CA. I saw a bright white object streak from mid-sky towards the ground south of my location. It was moving east to west, flared and disappeared about 20 degrees above the horizon (or where the horizon would be if there weren’t hills in the way…)
today at aproximately 6:15 pm my 8 yr old daughter excited shout that she saw something in the sky described as a shooting star, this was seen while traveling westbound parallel to the 105 fwy in south gate CA any one else see anything? or is she just seein stuff?
date is off actually happened wed. the 25th at aprox. 6:15 pm
My husband and I were driving toward Pleasanton, CA, on February 1, 2009, and saw what looked to us like a falling star. This was an especially amazing moment since my daughter’s birthday was February 1st – she passed away a few years ago. I really felt like this was special …
I just saw one last night!! This is the only website I could find information about this. Here are the details. March 11th, 9:00-9:10 pm. I was sitting in a chair facing large double sliding (glass) doors. I looked up, and there was a large fire ball. It looked like something was on fire and walling from the sky (tails). It looked like it was traveling North->South, and a touch West->East. It was strange because it appeared suddenly in the middle of the sky—it didn’t start from one side of the sky and travel to the other side—it just appeared 30 degrees above the horizon. It was deep red/orange. Not like a star. And it was U-shaped (very narrow. I would say that the whole thing lasted 1-2 seconds. It disappeared behind the Lafayette (CA) hills. Again, I was facing South, so they were the south hills.
What I saw was not over california and not once and NO i’m not a ufo nut job. I’d say in about 05(in South Carolina) I saw a green fireball falling from the sky with a trail of green sparkle and as it got closer to the ground it broke up. I saw the same thing in early 07 (Georgia) and then saw the same thing again in December of 08 (minnesota) Does anyone know what the hell that was? Please email me snoopyslapsyou@yahoo.com
yeah. i saw one in 2007 too. but i saw it in Mexico.
isaw a fireball like this one like 2 years ago. but i saw it in Mexico. i was playing basketball when something shiny caught my eye and there was a giant fireball. it was huge and it wasnt going from side to side like normal shooting stars or comets. it looked like it was falling into the earth. it was aroun 5:30 when i saw it. it lasted only a few seconds before it disappeared. it appeared out of nowhere.
2Well I m not sure if it was about 8pm or so but I saw a huge fireball in the sky it was bright blue and as it was coming down it left a snake like cloud behind it . It was kinda scary …today August 28, 2009
By the way this happened in la ca
I saw it too. Aug 28th.
So did all the people I was with at the beach in Redondo.
We all screamed.
It left a trail of white smoke behind it like a firework, but that'[ not what it was. It was too high and it was alone.
I can’t find any information about it ANYWHERE online.
My boyfriend and I both saw a fireball last night. We were not together, but were both in Northern San Diego right near the ocean. It was 8pm, and it looked like it fell right into the ocean just off shore. It was crazy! It was big, bright, and moving way to fast to be anything like a falling plane or firework. Can’t find any actual information about it. Anyone know what it was? I think things like metors could make it through our atmosphere without being destroyed… and not get talked about! Glad it landed in the ocean! Soooo close to shore though!
I saw it on August 29, 2009 while i was at the coner of La Cinega and Holloway facing the north. It was approximaely 5:15 am. It was a bright glowing green light that feel from the sky and disappered in the Hollywood Hills.
I was in Montclair, Ca August 28, 2009 and I saw a fireball falling fast in the northwest direction about 7-8:00pm I am not sure what time exactly. There was a trail of smoke right behind it.
OK I am in WI and for the past 3 nights me and my son have seen several green and red “fireballs” in the eastern sky around 8 pm. So we are seeing them in the Midwest also. What is it? I found this site trying to search for what it is.
August 29th approx. 3:45-4am while driving thru the Mojave desert with my 3 year old son and husband on HWY 395 (on our way to a camping trip @Rock Creek Lake (North of Bishop) (while it way pitch dark outside) suddenly our pick up truck beamed inside and out with a “VERY BRIGHT” white light, we looked behind us expecting to see a vehicle with their high beams on but, no vehilce was behind or in front of us when suddenly appeared at a very low altitude a big round ball of blue fire flying over our truck. The ball was flying low enought to light up the inside of our truck. you could clearly see flame coming from it. amost like an afterburner of a jet but no vechicle attached to the ball. did anyone else see this? would love to know. Thanks
It appeared to be a shooting star but it lasted a lot longer than a shooting star. It went across the sky and then disappeard in the horizon. I have never seen a sight like this before that last as long as it did. I felt very privileged.
This appeared around 8 p.m. over Chilliwack, B.C., Canada
(9/14/09) Tonight I saw something spectacular in the sky over Morgan Hill, CA. I was calling for my daughter’s cat after dark (at about 10:10pm) when my eye was caught by something very bright in my peripheral vision. The largest shooting star I had ever seen was streaking across the sky, leaving a fat white trace as it traveled from south to north. Suddenly, as it finished its arc, it turned reddish, like fire, and seemed to explode in the sky. I could actually see it disintegrate in the sky. I called for our cat one more time and he appeared within seconds, from the hill right below where the shooting star broke up.
My boyfriend and I saw a red fireball like object about 12.35 am today. It seem to just burn up in the sky until it disappeared. All that was left behind was black smoke. There was suppose to be a meteor shower so maybe that’s what it was? It was weird
I was just watching the sunset over the Pacific ocean from the central California coast and though it was still quite daylight out, I saw a very bright fireball coming from the east and breaking into shining bits over the ocean. There was quite a nice smoke trail left in the sky, which I got some photos of.
Hi Ted,
That’s awesome that you were able to get some pictures of the smoke trail. Would you be willing to allow me to post them on the Transient Sky blog?
Thanks,
– Carl
Today in Gilroy driving towards west saw fire ball track was straight goodly trail. Time was about 510 pm looks as though would head towards North West into Pacific Ocean . November 7 2009
I was eating dinner at the pier in Santa Cruz facing north toward Half Moon Bay out over the ocean. Around 5:10, I saw a shiny object falling from the sky towards the Pacific Ocean with a trail of smoke behind it. Then it let out a bright light as if it exploded or burned up. The trail of smoke ended at this point. I am thinking it was a dead satellite that was crashing back to Earth. What’s a “fire ball”?
I was driving home from work last night, November 7,2009, about 1710 hrs. I was west bound on the freeway in the Dublin, Ca area. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a large and very bright fire ball falling from the sky with a long trail coming from behind it. It fell behind the Pleasanton Ridge area and left a trail of smoke in the sky.
My husband, I and a friend saw a big fireball fall west to east from the sky last evening at about 5:10, Nov. 7, as we were driving north on PCH near Carpinteria. It was so big we were sure it would be reported on radio news, but we couldn’t find anything. I’m curious to know what it was, I’ve never seen anything else like it.
Kay-November 8, 2009 off 405 & Jefferey
We were leaving our house in Irvine off Jeffery & 405 at 11pm last night and looked up and saw something falling with red lights…streaks of red?? It was gone so quick that we had no idea…weird.
40 minutes ago i saw a giant green floresent thing going down supe fast on the east side of chula vista, California it seemed that it could have caused some damaged because of the altitude but i haven’t heard any sirens yet. it was about 7 or 10 miles away from the place i saw it (walmart in east lake)
my friend and i saw the nov. 7th fireball at marina beach, central coast, cali ~ it was big, and BRIGHT white with a long squiggly trail- it was going so fast that at first we first thought it was going to be a shooting star… but it sure wasn’t like any shooting star i’ve ever seen. it was really cool ~ unforgettable.
I live in Montreal, Canada and last night nov 13 I saw a ferey ball fall from the sky. It just appeared out of nowhere and fell so fast and then it was over. It left like a lingering bright light trail from its path for a second.
Just saw one at about 7:15 p.m. in Santa Cruz mountains, CA headed due northwest on a downward trajectory. It was low moving way too fast for a plane and too big and low for a shooting star.
I saw a large green fireball driving home last night Nov 14th about 7:00 on Highway 1 South San Francisco. Was it part of the Leoniods? It was a bright streak in the sky. Amazing!
Hi Susan,
I haven’t been able to find any reports of this fireball other than a single posting on the meteorobs Yahoo mailing list. [Edit: I take that back, there are at least 2 other reports in the comments section of this blog.] That post did report that the meteor was quite brilliant.
The Leonids are only observable after about midnight. So this could not be a Leonid. It may have been a Taurid which are not as numerous but are capable of producing bright fireballs during the evening hours of Sept/Oct/Nov.
Thanks for writing,
– Carl
A bright fireball was witnessed by many over Northern California at approx. 7:15PM PDT on Sat. Nov. 14. I know this because the Twitter board was flooded with reports of a “shooting star”. I saw it from Folsom CA, travelling from N to S at a steep angle about 5 degrees East of Jupiter. It was so bright and colorful that I thought it might be a signal flare. There were other reports from San Francisco of the same in their southern sky. Never seen anything as bright with long tail and moving so slowly.
Did you guys see the one in Bountiful Utah a half an hour ago Nov. 18th 2009 12:12 A.M. It had to be at least 30 feet wide with a fire blazing tail that lasted for a couple of seconds stringing out at least a mile long and it lit up the dark night like it was a really bright sunny day. The kind of day you really need to wear sunglasses from horizon to horizon for at least 6 seconds it threw my heart up into my throat and I recieved an immediate and outrageous adrenalin rush. This experience was by far the coolest thing I have ever seen in the night sky. If anybody else saw this please post and I really hope someone or somebodys business buildings camera got this on tape and they post it soon. I really want to relive that moment again… All I can say is WOW…
Hi Miah,
Thanks for writing about the fireball. Check out my blog again at transientsky.wordpress.com for more info and links other stories about the fireball.
– Carl
Wow! Saw a huge entry by something in the sky over Los Angeles tonight…must’ve been about 2a.m….massive blue tail…much bigger than any comet or shooting star I’ve ever seen…had to be really big to appear as large as it did from my pov. Could actually see particles coming off of it and a long tail.
On November 24, 2009 at about 5:30am i was outside when i looked up and saw a bright light about 2 times the size of The Sirius Star heading straight for me ..almost like it was going to crash into earth…it kept getting bigger and bigger…all of a sudden it jus started to recede ..it jus started getting smaller and smaller and started drifting away until suddenly it was gone…all this happened in about 8 seconds.
My friend and I were camped out at Bishop creek resevior on the owens river. On wensday night the 18th at 11:15 pm we witnesed a brite white light explosion north of bishop california somewhere of hwy 6 that raised higher than the whites mountains and their around elleven thousand feet high. The explosion resembled a nuclear hit with no mushroon and we saw no meterorite strike. We did see a clowd of smoke move in a southern dirction right over the town of Bishop cal. that appeared miles long and we were concerned. We left camp and entered the town to try and find out what happend with no reports and only one person saw the same explosion. We have attemped to find out what it was since and today is thanksgiving and still no answeres. It would be great to know what happened that night. David.
Driving North I-5 above Redding, Ca saw a beautiful green-blue ball streaking in a NE direction. Approximately 8 pm on November 29, 2009.
TODAY IS DECEMBER 2, 2009
About ten min ago I witnessed a large flash of light in the San Fernando Valley. The description is verbatim of DAVID’S experience… “The explosion resembled a nuclear hit with no mushroon and we saw no meterorite strike.”
I was sitting on my balcony in Studio City looking North.
Anyone else see this flash?
Sorry Today is December 3rd, Sighting happened at apx 7:50PM
Early this morning, December 19, 2009 at about 4:45am I witnessed a meteor descend over the ocean here in Long Beach. I am to the east of Long Beach State University, on the north side of 7th Street and was looking south; I noticed a medium sized fire ball (blue & white in color much like when a power line arcs) as it disappeared over the tree line – I’m guessing it had to be at least 6-8 miles out to sea. It appeared to be low on the horizon, starting at appx. 3′ above the tree line from where I stood.
I was in Palm Springs for the past couple weeks, and was watching the Geminids which were quite bright, but much closer to zenith; I figured it would be too bright here in Long Beach to see anything. What I saw this morning was very low, much larger, & at least 50 times more brilliant compared to the shower display last weekend in Palm Springs.
I was driving south on I-95 in Northern Maryland on my way back to school. It was around 5:45 pm eastern standard time I thought, and I saw a bright and burning object falling to the left of the moonrise. It was not the typical fire color either, more white or blue. Maybe near a foot above the treeline, it blew up with a brilliant white flash (like a magnesium flare??) and seemed to vanish, although the contrail showed that it actually continued down to the earth. The contrail, which was smoky white/grey, lasted for nearly ten minutes (!). My initial stupid thought was that a plane was crashing, or I’d just seen part of a space shuttle or sattellite burning up in the atmosphere. Then I wondered if it were a small asteroid? But I have absolitely no idea what it was! It was very strange and VERY bright, and that’s all I know. A friend of mine also driving south on 95 near Philadelphia ALSO saw this in the sky on the way home from work–the contrail only lasted five minutes by what she could tell, though. So this object had to be high enough in the atmosphere to be seen. And now that I’m reading it was also seen similarly in California, I know it was high up!!
heh heh wow…just read the date on the blog….I’m an idiot…oh well, at least you guys know that a year later, we saw another one!
Tonight, Jan 25, 2010 around 6:00pm I spotted a beautiful but short lived meteor in the sky to the southwest of Los Altos, CA.
It’s Wednesday February 3rd and around 7:30 pm in Santa Monica, CA I was watching the night sky admiring the view toward Malibu. A bright “fireball” came streaming through the air burning until it was close to the ground…it finally went out right before it went out of my view at about a 30 degree angle? I was very surprised that it was burning so close to the ground! Maybe it was higher in the sky than it looked…anyone else see this or know if it was a fireball?
I’m not sure what I saw last night at 7:25 in the city of burbank,ca but it looked like a fireball about to hit earth. It lasted for about less than one second. I know for sure it was not a shooting star.
I saw a bright meteor with glowing blue around it as it fell. It was beautiful! You can see the fire trail behind it and it actually caused a car accident on the 405 to 5 freeway where I saw it. It was Wednesday, Feb. 3rd 2010 at about 7:30pm. I can’t find any news on it but it looked like the one from this news post. http://weblogs.marylandweather.com/2010/01/twilight_meteor_reported_monda.html
It was big! I just read the post before mine and Gilbert and I saw the same thing.
Glad to hear others saw the same thing. I was travelling on the 101 North (West) toward the 405 junction at about Coldwater Canyon.
Very bright with a yellow glow, and green halo. At least one piece broke off while I observed it, also glowing yellow-white. The tail was golden blue from what I saw. It was a lot bigger and much slower moving than other “shooting stars” that I have seen. It lasted in my field of view a little over 2 seconds. Enough to ask myself if they are doing missile testing again.
Just checked my phone, and I called my wife to tell her about the sighting at 7:26pm PST, just after I saw it.
I witnessed and vaguely heard an explosion type fireball while looking in the south eastern direction on the night of Feb. 14th at around 9:15 pm PST. Ive checked every web site, news channel possible and have heard nothing of other sightings. I didnt hear the explosion until about 3 seconds after I saw it occur. Please let me know im not crazy.
A friend and I were on our way home when I looked out the window and up in the clear nightly sky I saw what I thought were to be bright orange in color stars which were kind of low and seem to be side by side with space between each other and seemed to dim in and out of there brightness both emitted lights that resembled what u would see on 4th of july fireworks raining down bright golden colored sparklers from one after the other then disappear into the sky
Sept. 25, 2010 Anza, CA (our house sits on a mountain at 5000 feet over looking a valley and opposite mountain range- Anza is an hour between Temecula and Palm Desert)
Last night around 9:30-10pm pst, my step-son and I were out watching the stars and he got excited and noticed a “shooting star” he said. I turned to look where he was pointing (NW) and saw what then appeared to be a bright redish comet with a long tail trailing behind. He said when he saw it, it was bright white and almost blinded him (this is when it must have entered our atmosphere), then changing into a comet headed south in the sky. We quickly alerted the rest of the family (3 other pre-teen children and my husband) who came out and witnessed with us, what WASN’T a “shooting star” or “comet”. The tail turned into a cloud of smoke as this large bright redish orange fire ball continued to travel south across the horizon. We watched it for a few minutes as it flew south, then it puffed another cloud of smoke and seemed to excellerate leaving a trail of smoke in it’s wake and sped up traveling south still. It disapeared, reapeared, continued to fly south across our horizon and after watching it for about 5 min it just vanished. This was intelligently controlled, and AMAZING to see! The distance the large glowing ball traveled was from NW to SW- and had to have covered many, many miles as it crossed our entire horizon looking over the valley.
Hello, My name is Kristeena. I live in San Diego, California and yesterday 12-19-10 I walked outside to smoke a ciggerette and the sky to left side of my house was lit up bright red! there was a HUGE fireball falling. Isnt wasnt like anything ive ever seen before. It glowed bright red and was dropping flames from the bottom of it. It was pouring and freezing outside and no one was outside on my street. I cant find anyone on the net who saw it too? its driving me crazy! as soon as it fell lower it seemed as if it were getting closer and then the flame suddenly went out and all i could see was a big black rock dropping.. it scared the hell out of me.. how can i find out about it?