2011-08-02 - Columbus, OH - Fireball

Orange orb/ball seen over NE columbus ohio

I was coming home from work and left the store around 10:30PM EST. I have a 20 min commute I from the center of town to the north end of the outer-belt (I-270) where I stay at. The night was fairly clear, but I can't see too many stars due to light pollution. I am in the city (obviously) but my street has no lighting what so ever. Its kinda isolated which is why we chose to live here.

I was coming East down my street (approx. a 1/4 mi of no lights / straight shot to a T intersection) and saw an orange glow in the sky. I would guess that from the horizon it was up approx. 30-40 degrees in the air, and was an orange ball. I think it was between 2-7 mi away in distance from me.

I saw it traveling from at least north to south, if not NW to SE (which is my better guess but not 100% sure). I THOUGHT I might have see 1 flashing light happen as if it were an airplane, but this thing was going at a pretty decent pace.

The only thing I can think of that would go at its speed from that low would be a helicopter, but there was no sound, and I don't get much air traffic over my house from Port Columbus Int'l. Too fast for a smaller aircraft, and definitely not an airliner. I saw it travel, then I drove up by a tree and lost sight of it because of the tree, and then it was gone. I looked outside for 10 min not find it.

The orange color was about the same tint as the orange in highway lights that make everything gray.

I don't think it was jupiter (or any other planet) due to the movement and that I lost sight of it. But I'm not ruling out the thought. Maybe someone knows where certain planets are at this time of year and specifically for that date.

I don't know of any aircraft that have that orange tint to their headlights. I've seen the normal white, and recently saw an airplane w/ LED (like the obnoxious head lights that pure white).


((NUFORC Note: Source of report indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD))