4:30 am to sunrise Southern sky driving on I-4 from Daytona Beach to Tampa two comets tracked the same latitude as Moon as bright
On Friday February 1, 2008, in the early morning hours between 4:30 am to sunrise I observed out the driver’s window for most of the trip the Southern sky while driving Southwest on I-4 from Daytona Beach to Tampa, at first glance looked to be two rockets launching from either KSC and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station which I knew where in that general direction, having viewed many launches from that direction from the Tampa area where I grew up the last 50 years.
I drove I-95 south from the Ormond Beach to I-4 that night, 5 miles down I-4 about 45 minutes from Orlando in the middle of nowhere I ran into road construction stopping all southbound traffic for 30 minutes or so, which gave me plenty of time on that perfectly clear cool night to observe what I quickly decided were double comets not dual rocket launches since they did not move quickly out of site as do rockets. One comet was larger than the other with the smaller one slightly lower; it’s head almost even with the tail of the larger comet.
The two comets that night tracked near the same latitude line as the crescent moon tracked just slightly lower in the sky, at least 3 hand widths behind the moon and sunward toward the Southeastern sky.
Both comets were very close to one another separated by a pencil thickness; both tails about ¾ to ½ the length and as bright as the moon until clouds from a cold front moved into the area as I neared Tampa covering both comets and moon around 6:30 am. The comet heads were pointed upward toward the zenith not sunward as I have observed comets in the past.
On Friday February 1, 2008, in the early morning hours between 4:30 am to sunrise I observed out the driver’s window for most of the trip the Southern sky while driving Southwest on I-4 from Daytona Beach to Tampa, at first glance looked to be two rockets launching from either KSC and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station which I knew where in that general direction, having viewed many launches from that direction from the Tampa area where I grew up the last 50 years.
I drove I-95 south from the Ormond Beach to I-4 that night, 5 miles down I-4 about 45 minutes from Orlando in the middle of nowhere I ran into road construction stopping all southbound traffic for 30 minutes or so, which gave me plenty of time on that perfectly clear cool night to observe what I quickly decided were double comets not dual rocket launches since they did not move quickly out of site as do rockets. One comet was larger than the other with the smaller one slightly lower; it’s head almost even with the tail of the larger comet.
The two comets that night tracked near the same latitude line as the crescent moon tracked just slightly lower in the sky, at least 3 hand widths behind the moon and sunward toward the Southeastern sky.
Both comets were very close to one another separated by a pencil thickness; both tails about ¾ to ½ the length and as bright as the moon until clouds from a cold front moved into the area as I neared Tampa covering both comets and moon around 6:30 am. The comet heads were pointed upward toward the zenith not sunward as I have observed comets in the past.
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Daytona Beach to Tampa
USA
2.5 hours
2.5 hours
teardrop
FL
Occurred : 2/1/2008 04:30 (Entered as : 02/01/08 4:30) Reported: 2/3/2008 1:24:08 AM 01:24 Posted: 2/14/2008 Location: Daytona Beach to Tampa, FL Shape: Teardrop Duration: 2.5 hours
4:30 am to sunrise Southern sky driving on I-4 from Daytona Beach to Tampa two comets tracked the same latitude as Moon as bright