2010-08-28 - Washington, DC - Fireball

Red flaming object flying low over Washington DC with no sound

At the indicated time, my wife and I observed what appeared to be a red flaming object heading over Northwest Washington DC. We reside in a high rise building and lost sight of the object after about 2 minutes as it travelled over our building.

I was able to go onto the patio of our residence and could not hear any sound coming from the object. It was moving at a pace consistent with air traffic , but was outside of the normal areas where we have previously seen air traffic and had no flashing lights that one would expect to see on a traditional aircraft.

The object was at an altitude that I would estimate at between 2,000 to 3,000 feet and appeared to be travelling parallel to the ground, not increasing or decreasing in altitude. The object appeared similar to a rocket, although all that I was able to make out was the flame. The flame was distinctly red and lacked the white or yellow colorations that I have seen when observing several shuttle launches! .

The object was heading towards the Potomac Maryland area. The object was flying in a straight path.

I am a financial services executive and have never previously reporting anything of this nature. Given the security parameters in place in the Washington DC area, I would hope that someone would have information on this object.

I am reporting it in hopes that someone can provide me with an explanation of what this very unusual object was. It was flying low enough that it should have emitted some type of sound and I was amazed that I could hear no noise at all.

Also the red coloration was very unusual.

Would appreciate any information.