11-23-10 Fireball over Arlington, Texas now,anyone see it?

Did anyone just see this? Sorry, happened too fast and it's too dark to get any kind of good video, other than a shakey orange light.

My husband went out to the garage to smoke. He just went to look out the windows and saw a large orange fireball moving across the sky. He yelled at me and when I got a look, it was odd, because it is cloudy and sprinkling here and as it moved over us, it didn't appear to be loosing altitude, but then again it could have been an illusion as it followed the curvature of the earth, but if it was that high how could we see it visible below the clouds? Also, it had small tentacles coming off of it, but not like pieces burning up, but like a "plasma ball" my husband called it. I could use some suggestions, at this point I'm not sure if it was a meteor due to the speed and visibility below the low rain clouds. What ever it was, was silent.
I hope someone else saw this thing.

reply to post by sickofitall2012


Well, I am in Richardson and inside to boot... but I went outside to see if I could see anything.. Sadly to the southeast, nothing but clouds.. what direction was the item travelling in?

reply to post by rogerstigers


It was moving south to north from the mansfield area toward I-20.
We lost it as it moved north.

Think it might have been a leftover from this?

www.space.com...

The Leonid meteor shower returns every year in mid-November. It occurs when the Earth passes through a stream of dust leftover from the Comet Tempel-Tuttle. The material hits the atmosphere and then flares up as "shooting stars."

reply to post by snowspirit


Yea, we thought the same thing, but it was so big and did not appear to move as fast as a typical shooting star, so we thought it had to be a pretty big meteor to burn for that long, right?
Is there any way to find out more?

reply to post by sickofitall2012


Being both big and below the clouds sounds kind of ominous. There seems to be a lot of fireballs being reported recently, but you rarely hear of them hitting earth. Lets keep hoping we don't hear of any earth hits.

reply to post by sickofitall2012


Well, let's hope it wasn't a plan on approach to DFW. That would be a scary thought.

reply to post by rogerstigers


My huband thought flaming plane at first but there was no sound or pieces coming off.
Man I hope others saw it, it was cool.

Maybe re-entry of some kind of craft or meteor. www.spaceweather.com

...did it look like this?...

This is my first post on ATS and I really wish I had been outside when you saw this as I live North of Big D in Texomaland. I always have an eye to the sky and unfortunately it has been cloudy here all evening, and the clouds make the moon and Jupiter look like they are flashing as the clouds pass by here!

reply to post by Wyn Hawks


No, it was moving horizontally, not down, and it was moving slower than that. We were wondering how it looked so big, and how it appeared to be below the rain clouds, yet possibly following the earth's curvature. It looked like it was at airplane altitude when they fly below the clouds. The glow never dimmed, it stayed constant. We're pretty sure meteor, it's just that it was so different than anything else we've seen before.
I looked at the weather satellite images, but of course nothing on NOAA.

i'm in mckinney... it sounds like nothing natural...not a meteor
more like a mystery... so it was like an orb with drippings trailing it, ? i'm curious...i'm an observer of these unordinary sightings....what was it's apparent diameter and shape?....thanks

reply to post by sickofitall2012

I'm in Mansfield near the end of 360, been sitting on the porch since 6:30 and must have missed it. Just my luck to miss something exciting, seeing as Mansfield is such a "hopping" town.

Just thought of something, they're drilling for natural gas just south of me, could it have been a classic plasma ball released from the earth?

reply to post by retiredTxn


Which way were you looking? East or West?
I'm northwest of you.

That sucks. I was passing through Arlington only an hour before you say it happened.

Strange thing is, I grew up in Euless, just north of Arlington. When I was in junior high, I'd say about 13 years ago, 2 friends and myself were outside throwing a football back and forth. While attempting to catch one pitched up high I spotted a fireball shooting slowly across the sky. It was huge and seemed close enough to the ground but pretty far. Lower than planes taking off from DFW Airport but way above the tree line. It looked like a ball of something on fire, red/orange glow with a blue haze around it and a slight trail. I could actually see it burning flames. The two kids I were with saw it too. It went passed the tree line and we couldn't see it anymore.

I have never seen anything like it since, not any videos on the internet that looked like it. From our vantage point, it was about the size of a basketball. We were about 15 years old at the time, since I still live close enough to the area, in Richardson, and my parents still in Euless, I have run into the two friends a few times and the first thing we say to each other is... "Remember that fireball".

Since then I have searched a little on the internet to see if anyone else may had seen it that day but not much luck.

To anyone from that area, we were off Pipeline Rd. close to American Way/FAA Blvd. Knob Hill Trailer Park to be exact.

reply to post by GBP/JPY


More like filaments, not drippping, nothing ever fell.
It was round. Hard to tell exactly how big. If I had to guess, judging from the height, about 20 yards across.

reply to post by Wyn Hawks


Woah, that is a crazy video there. All my years of stargazing, I have only seen one really spectacular meteorite so far. I have seen many decent meteors, but the meteorite takes the cake by a long shot

reply to post by rosesposes

It was huge and seemed close enough to the ground but pretty far. Lower than planes taking off from DFW Airport but way above the tree line. It looked like a ball of something on fire, red/orange glow

That is exactly the height and appearance, but this didn't have a blue haze or a trail.