Giant thing in sky: help me identify it!

[Maeve]

I was just driving at night here on the East Coast and saw a giant flaming ball streaking across the sky. It was moving relatively fast but much slower than a shooting star or meteor I’ve seen in the past. I had time to watch it move parallel across the horizon and even film it/take photos. After about a minute it just suddenly disappeared into nothing midway through the sky. It was not a rocket as there aren’t any launches/returns scheduled tonight. I can not overstate how large it was - it was not a plane or anything similar. Super awesome to witness but would love some insight into what I actually just saw! I’ve heard rumors of a comet being visible for the last week or so but was told by others this is not what they saw? 

[Ags]

Looks very much like a rocket burn to me.  It would vanish suddenly if the burn stopped or it tracked into the Earth's shadow.

[Maeve]

Awesome, thanks! 

[Ags]

It must have been an amazing sight!

[Steve Ward]

It would be helpful to have a little more information to start with in order to attempt an identification ... 😉

1. "East coast" of which particular country ... ?

2. Time and date of the capture , preferably in UTC so we're all on the same page.

 

That said , it's a rocket burn , it's just a matter of working out which one , it could be a military test not necessarily a NASA or Spacex launch.

[Steve Ward]

A very quick Google search shows a SpaceX launch delivering yet more Starlink satellites yesterday evening at 8:01 pm EDT ... 😏

According to the commentator on the video footage the rocket followed a north-easterly trajectory along the US coastline so I'd say with some degree of confidence that this is your object.

You were watching the burn and it disappearing from view very suddenly was you witnessing MECO , i.e. main engine cut-off.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/10/17/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-starlink-satellites-on-falcon-9-rocket-from-cape-canaveral-3/

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:50 by Steve Ward