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Re: (meteorobs) very old sighting



In a message dated 98-10-26 13:43:58 EST, you write:

Robert<< 
 Reading this list has brought back to mind something I saw in the sky
 sometime back in the late 70's.  I was in San Jose and it was early evening,
 meaning that viewing conditions were poor.  I saw a slow moving object
 burning a dull orange-red moving east to west roughly along the ecliptic
 trailing a reddish short tail.  The whole thing looked like the standard
 cartoon rendition of a flaming comet.  It probably lasted 5 to 10 seconds,
 travelled a significant portion of the sky before I lost sight of it, and
 left no trail.  I have always assumed it was space junk falling out of
 orbit, but I never saw mention of it in the paper, nor have I ever heard a
 description of anything else like it.  Has anyone else witnessed burning
 space debris?  Do people agree this is what I most probably saw?<<

Robert,
I believe you most likely seen a meteor. The length of time it lasted seems a
bit too short to have been a satellite. The traveling in the direction of east
to west also tends to indicate it was most likely a meteor compared to a
satellite. But the sighting was in San Jose....near San Franisco. No telling
what unusual sightings can be seen from there?  :o)
George Zay