Bright meteor-like object falling from upper left sky to lower right quickly changed directions and disappeared over the horizon
Sighting occurred in the NE area of Jacksonville, FL about ¼ mile SE of intersection of Yellow Bluff Rd and Starratt Rd while looking directly NE towards Amelia Island thru a large picture window in my house, and at about a 60 degree angle from horizon.
One object appearing like an orange and yellowish round fireball, or meteor-like, started rapidly falling from upper left portion of window (about 10 o’clock on a watch dial) towards the lower right of the window (or about 4 o’clock). After dropping to about 20 degrees off of the horizon to the lower right of my window, the object very quickly changed direction and shot off slightly to the right and away and disappeared over the horizon in kind of a bow shaped pattern following the contour of the earth at about 20 to 30 degrees.
I would estimate the distance to the object was initially several miles from my viewing location, and was 15 to 20 miles away before disappearing over the horizon. It initially appeared about the size of a golf ball from my vantage point, but was very small when it shot off and away to the right. Total viewing time was a matter of a few seconds. My wife was with me, but her back was facing the object when it appeared, and object was out of sight before she could turn to take a look at it.
Event occurred the same night as the last launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Center. I have lived near Naval Air Stations in San Diego, and now Jacksonville, FL, and have observed numerous military aircraft, but have never seen an object like this, and seen it move and change directions so quickly.
Sighting occurred in the NE area of Jacksonville, FL about ¼ mile SE of intersection of Yellow Bluff Rd and Starratt Rd while looking directly NE towards Amelia Island thru a large picture window in my house, and at about a 60 degree angle from horizon.
One object appearing like an orange and yellowish round fireball, or meteor-like, started rapidly falling from upper left portion of window (about 10 o’clock on a watch dial) towards the lower right of the window (or about 4 o’clock). After dropping to about 20 degrees off of the horizon to the lower right of my window, the object very quickly changed direction and shot off slightly to the right and away and disappeared over the horizon in kind of a bow shaped pattern following the contour of the earth at about 20 to 30 degrees.
I would estimate the distance to the object was initially several miles from my viewing location, and was 15 to 20 miles away before disappearing over the horizon. It initially appeared about the size of a golf ball from my vantage point, but was very small when it shot off and away to the right. Total viewing time was a matter of a few seconds. My wife was with me, but her back was facing the object when it appeared, and object was out of sight before she could turn to take a look at it.
Event occurred the same night as the last launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Center. I have lived near Naval Air Stations in San Diego, and now Jacksonville, FL, and have observed numerous military aircraft, but have never seen an object like this, and seen it move and change directions so quickly.
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Jacksonville
USA
2-3 seconds
2-3 seconds
30.30
-81.64
circle
FL
Occurred : 2/24/2011 19:50 (Entered as : 02/24/11 19:50) Reported: 3/8/2011 1:48:29 PM 13:48 Posted: 3/10/2011 Location: Jacksonville, FL Shape: Circle Duration: 2-3 seconds
Bright meteor-like object falling from upper left sky to lower right quickly changed directions and disappeared over the horizon