pjrudin

I should probably have mentioned that it appeared to be faceted with planes that came together with sharp corners and edges, not unlike a quartz crystal.

Perhaps the amount of time to pass has been distorted by memory. Halley's comet I saw with the unaided eye. It moved very slowly, almost imperceptibly, and looked like a point of light.

It was traveling west, out to the ocean.

I am not an astronomer. I have tried to ask this question on other forums without success. The question is: "What did I see?". I am not sure exactly when I saw this. I think it was late summer of 2012. My family and I had emigrated to northern California from Alabama. Although we had money for a place to stay, housing was in short supply. It was another few months before we found a rental. In the meanwhile, we stayed at county and state parks camp grounds. One night we were camping at Patrick's Point, a county campsite in Humboldt county. Everyone else was asleep. I was the only one up. I was looking up at the sky when I saw something unlike anything I've seen before. I have seen many shooting stars, and a while back, I stayed up to watch Haley's Comet pass by. That which I saw on this particular night was far different. Instead of a transient point of light, or a distant point of light which passed, I saw a boulder flying through the sky. It looked like a rock. I could see facets and features of it. It was swathed in what appeared to be blue flame which extended out behind it, which I assume to be consistent with fire born of friction with the Earths atmosphere. Though the tail extended out behind this rock traveling through the sky, it wasn't very long. The flames appeared only as a cone, pointing backwards from the direction of travel. We were camped within a tsunami zone, and as I watched, I pictured a scenario such as I had seen in the Disney movie "Dinosaur". I wondered if I should wake my family and move to higher ground. I chose to wait and as I watched, it disappeared in the distance. It seemed to be maybe three minutes as it passed across the sky, but I am not sure. The next day I checked the news on the internet to see if some far off place had been destroyed. I found no mention. From time to time since, I have re-initiated my inquiry, but have found nothing that seems relevant. I am wondering if my account is consistent with something familiar to an educated group of astronomers. What did I see? Thank you. e