1998-12-17 - La Habra, CA - Fireball

First appeared as a huge meteor, but instead of burning out it exploded out; left a "dark hole" where it dissapeared followed by a streak of light which "entered" the hole.

At approximately 2:00am Thursday, Dec. 17, '98 I woke up feeling agitated for no reason, went to the kitchen to get a cup of tea, then stepped outside for a few minutes. The yard faces east and we are located on the Los Angeles/Orange County border just a few miles west of the 57 Freeway. I was looking up at the sky enjoying how clear it was and how many stars I could see... As I looked towards the Big Dipper, just below the last star of of "handle" and falling at a 45 degree angle towards the middle star of the handle, I saw what appeared to be a regular "shooting star" but rather than the whitish appearance I have usually seen, this was a brilliant blue/green color. It was also at least 2 to 3 times bigger and brighter than the brightest stars, yet it seemed pretty "normal" till that point. Then rather than burn out or fade out, it seemed to explode out and for a brief moment get even larger. My first thought was, "It must have entered the atmosphere there." But what struck me as strange was that the center appeared "darker" than the sky at the moment of "explosion" and this darker area grew larger as the brilliance around it spread out. As the light around the dark hole began to fade, I thought that was the end of it. But then I saw the strangest streak of light, same color as the fireball, begin at appoximately the same place where the fireball first appeared and following the same path. What was strange was that the streak of light did not "behave" as others I have seen. First, it seemed to be separate and distinct from the fireball that preceeded it instead of the tail of the fireball. Second, rather than have the tail end begin to fade as the front end moves, this streak maintained its brilliance until the front end reached the "dark hole" that was still faintly visible. (If I hold my hand out and use my fingers to measure how long the streak appeared, it was two and a half to three inches long.) Then, even stranger, rather than fade away, it appeared to remain stationary for a moment before it ap! peared to accelerate and dissapear INTO this dark hole. Again, it did not dissapear as I have seen before, with the tail end fading first but rather the front end fading at the location of the "hole" and the rest of the streak following. I have never seen anything quite like this before, nor have I ever seen anything that out of the usual. I am 45 yrs old, married to the same man for almost 20 years, have 2 teenage sons. Although I am a full time mom, prior to my having children, I was trained as a professional proof-reader and worked for several years at this for Los Angeles County. So I am used to noticing what is "wrong" or out of the ordinary. This was certainly "out of the ordinary".