2000-07-08 - Stanwood - I-5 corridor, WA - Fireball

two dancing fireballs, one red light

maybe this thing is part of the Arlington experimental air show several miles south of us, but I don't know if an aircraft could pull this off (and this didn't look to be anything related to a laser show). this happened tonight shortly before 10 pm..... While talking to my neighbor in her yard, we and our kids (4 between us, ages 6 - 9) ) spotted a huge golden fireball trailing sparks, moving from south to north. I'm not good with distances, but I thought it was maybe three miles east of us (Stanwood, WA) and maybe a mile south. It would have been very close to Interstate 5 between Stanwood and Arlington. I don't know how high up it was, but it was a handspan above the rooftops we could see from our vantage point. We quit thinking the fireball was just a fireball because it moved rather slowly with a curve to its tail, and then it pulled straight up. The sparks cut out, the thing nearly disappeared into a mote of light. Then it reignited, the fireball this time looking like it was moving from east to west. During various maneouvers a brilliant red oval of light appeared under the fireball, as a second fireball moved in from the south. Both fireballs and the red light winked out, then one fireball reignited and looked as though it was moving away before it winked out. These things almost looked like intelligent fireworks, which has got my neighbor thinking the lights could have been part of the annual airshow in Arlington. I'm not so sure since the fireballs sans tails would have been the size of my fingernail at arm's length even though they were a little distance away. A single plane in the same location would have been much, much smaller. Also, the crowd that would have been watching any nighttime airshow would have been several miles south of where this took place. I will say this lightshow was the prettiest thing I've ever seen in the sky....