What did I see?

[pjrudin]

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.

 

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[mikeDnight]

The only thing that comes to mind is a flock of birds that may give the mottled appearance from a distance. I've seen many fireballs and thousands of meteors, but nothing that shows a mottled rock like appearance. 

[Waddensky]

The late summer is a great time to see κ-Cygnid meteors. I've seen very bright ones, fiery orange with a bluish ionised 'tail' that may look like flames. Although they are slower than the average meteor, it won't take them minutes to cross the sky and they burn up reasonably fast. Do you recall the compass direction it was travelling to?

[miguel87]

3 minutes to cross the sky, that's an odd amount if time. Not in keeping with something falling to earth. More like the time it would take an aircraft to pass. Did it make a sound?

What do you remember about Halley's comet passing by in terms of movement?

I doubt you will ever positively identify it now without a photograph or similar.

Good luck 👍

[Peter Drew]

Of all possibilities it seems most likely to have been a fireball.  Believe me, in the moment of excitement to be so fortunate to witness such an event, details like brightness, speed of motion and colours can easily be mistaken, exaggerated or forgotten when trying to mentally recreate the scene.    🙂 

[Pete Presland]

Space debris renetering the atmosphere maybe?

[Paul M]

Sounds like a satellite reentry to me too.  

[pjrudin]

On 03/05/2020 at 05:02, Waddensky said:

The late summer is a great time to see κ-Cygnid meteors. I've seen very bright ones, fiery orange with a bluish ionised 'tail' that may look like flames. Although they are slower than the average meteor, it won't take them minutes to cross the sky and they burn up reasonably fast. Do you recall the compass direction it was travelling to?

It  was traveling west, out to the ocean.

[pjrudin]

On 03/05/2020 at 10:39, miguel87 said:

3 minutes to cross the sky, that's an odd amount if time. Not in keeping with something falling to earth. More like the time it would take an aircraft to pass. Did it make a sound?

What do you remember about Halley's comet passing by in terms of movement?

I doubt you will ever positively identify it now without a photograph or similar.

Good luck 👍

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.

3 hours ago, pjrudin said:

3 hours ago, pjrudin said:

It  was traveling west, out to the ocean. The k-Cygnid meteor sounds similar. It did appear to be quite massive, and did not appear to be consumed. It's possible my memory of the time it took to pass is distorted.

 

 

3 hours ago, pjrudin said:

 

 

3 hours ago, pjrudin said:

 

 

[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.