2007-12-10 - Smyrna, GA - Other

((NUFORC Note: Missile venting fuel in space. PD))

The fuzzy, comet-like object seen on December 10, 2007 across the East Coast was apparently a rocket stage from a classified satellite.

I live in Smyrna, Georgia, about 12 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta and approximately one mile from the southern end of Dobbins Air Reserve Base. At approximately 6:45 p.m. last night (December 10, 2007), I took my dog for his evening walk and looked up at the sky. I noticed slightly to the south of the zenith a fuzzy patch of light in the sky. It was maybe a quarter of the size of my pinky fingernail at arm's length. I watched it for a few moments, thinking it was a bright star blurred by a cloud, but the night was perfectly clear. I discerned a comet-like shape--a brighter triangular point with a fanned out, fuzzy "tail." As an amateur skygazer, I was amazed that I'd not read about anything like this being visible and certainly had not seen anything like it on previous nights. I called my father at his house east of Atlanta at 6:48 p.m., but there was no answer. I went into the house to get my binoculars and came back outside to get a better view. Through the binoculars, the object definitely looked like a comet, and I could see that it was clearly moving against the background stars. I then called my sister's house in Loganville, Georgia (approximately 30 miles east of Atlanta), at 6:52 p.m. and my father answered the phone. I told him to go outside and look up and when he did, he said, "Well I'll be damned! What's that?" "I think it's a comet," I told him. "But it's moving too fast for a comet and it's not supposed to be there!" I chatted with my father and continued to observe the comet moving slowly northward close to the zenith. It seemed to get very slightly brighter. At about 7 p.m., through the binoculars I noticed a pinpoint flash of white light just to the right (north side) of the object (the flash was in the same spot as the one noted on the illustration on your website concerning this siting). I told my father, "Wait, there's a flashing light...that's not a comet. I'll call you back." I observed the flash several more times but was unable to determine if it was happening at regular intervals or not. It seemed to flash about once every 30 to 45 seconds at first. The patch of light continued to head north toward Cassiopeia, and its brightness was fading quickly. The last time I saw the flash of light next to the fuzzy light, I counted up to 120 seconds and did not see the flash again. It dimmed and I lost sight of it at roughly 7:05 to 7:10 p.m. before it reached the "W" of Cassiopeia.

I went inside and called the Smyrna Police Department and described what I saw and asked if anyone else had reported it. No one had. I then called the local Fox affiliate, Fox 5, and asked their news desk if they had received reports of the light in the sky. The man on the phone said that they had calls reporting it from Clayton County (south of Atlanta) all the way up to Cleveland, Georgia (roughly 40 or 50 miles northeast of Atlanta). He had no explanation as to what it might be. I called Fox 5 back at 11 p.m. to see if they had learned anything, and there was no new information.

This morning at work, I've googled "mysterious light georgia" and numerous other applicable terms, but nothing came up on google or Fox 5 or the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (the city newspaper). I just spoke with a public affairs sergeant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, and she had heard nothing of the unusual light in the sky. When I typed in "ufo december 10 2007" and the first link that came up was this website.

At various times, I have seen satellites, the space shuttle, and the international space station moving across the sky in the evenings. They are always distinct, fast-moving points of light that generally dim and "blink out" once they enter the earth's shadow. The object last moved much slower than any aircraft (save a helicopter) or satellite. When I saw the flashing light and realized it was not a comet, I thought maybe it was a high-altitude balloon of some sort that had vented gas or propellant, but since this appears to be the same object seen by many people over several states, I have doubts that a weather or test balloon could have been high enough in or above the atmosphere to be viewed from such a wide area. I have no idea what it was.

The times listed above are very close approximations from the call records in my cell phone.

Now that I have typed all this, I just heard back from an astronomer at the Fernbank Science Center's observatory here in Atlanta. Apparently, the object was an Atlas rocket performing a "fuel dump" after depositing a classified satellite in orbit. The story can be found at www.spaceweather.com.

No little green men responsible this time...