Uniform blue-green sky for 1.5 seconds. Not likely a fireball meteor, I suggest.
Not a UFO report, exactly. No O to be U or F.
I left after work in Orlando Friday intending to visit my parents in Georgia, so it turned dark about 1/3rd the way into my trip. When I witnessed the event, I could not see the entire sky, merely the 30degrees in front, 90 on one side, and 30 to the right. JasmineTheDog was in the car's passenger's seat, drowsily chasing rabbits. Interstate Highway 75 was relatively quiet between Gainesville and Valdosta.
The sky was black as pitch, or it seemed that way to my eyes that couldn’t grow accustomed to the dark because of headlights. About 40 miles north of Gainesville, the sky suddenly became a uniform eerie green (slightly bluish) color all over and lasted that way for a full 1.5 seconds. The light was not bright enough to illuminate the terrain. Jasmine started awake and looked out the window. It seemed to flicker slightly and then, poof! it was back to black. Jasmine looked around a bit, gave me a hurt look that said she thought I had tricked her, and curled up again to sleep.
I don’t know what could have caused it. A meteor fire-ball is almost never that color, that long lasting, or that bright, from what I've seen of meteor-shower watching over the years. I didn’t hear an explosion. I know there’s some sort of mining operation (phosphate?) just off of I-75, but that is many miles away, and I can’t imagine what could generate that much light (unless they dug up a ton of pure phosphorous).
The sudden onset of light and the flicker reminded me of the glare from arc welding.
((NUFORC Note: Web address deleted here. Address did not work properly for us. PD))
I'm a relatively intelligent skeptic with some college education, though no degree.
((NUFORC Note: Witness corrects date to 09/12/03. PD))
Not a UFO report, exactly. No O to be U or F.
I left after work in Orlando Friday intending to visit my parents in Georgia, so it turned dark about 1/3rd the way into my trip. When I witnessed the event, I could not see the entire sky, merely the 30degrees in front, 90 on one side, and 30 to the right. JasmineTheDog was in the car's passenger's seat, drowsily chasing rabbits. Interstate Highway 75 was relatively quiet between Gainesville and Valdosta.
The sky was black as pitch, or it seemed that way to my eyes that couldn’t grow accustomed to the dark because of headlights. About 40 miles north of Gainesville, the sky suddenly became a uniform eerie green (slightly bluish) color all over and lasted that way for a full 1.5 seconds. The light was not bright enough to illuminate the terrain. Jasmine started awake and looked out the window. It seemed to flicker slightly and then, poof! it was back to black. Jasmine looked around a bit, gave me a hurt look that said she thought I had tricked her, and curled up again to sleep.
I don’t know what could have caused it. A meteor fire-ball is almost never that color, that long lasting, or that bright, from what I've seen of meteor-shower watching over the years. I didn’t hear an explosion. I know there’s some sort of mining operation (phosphate?) just off of I-75, but that is many miles away, and I can’t imagine what could generate that much light (unless they dug up a ton of pure phosphorous).
The sudden onset of light and the flicker reminded me of the glare from arc welding.
((NUFORC Note: Web address deleted here. Address did not work properly for us. PD))
I'm a relatively intelligent skeptic with some college education, though no degree.
((NUFORC Note: Witness corrects date to 09/12/03. PD))
No
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Off
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Alachua County
USA
2 seconds
2 seconds
light
FL
Occurred : 9/12/2003 20:00 (Entered as : 09/12/1903 20:00) Reported: 9/17/2003 11:34:27 AM 11:34 Posted: 9/17/2003 Location: Alachua County, FL Shape: Light Duration: 2 seconds
Uniform blue-green sky for 1.5 seconds. Not likely a fireball meteor, I suggest.