ball of colored light shoots across Bemidji sky
Some time after 1am, a group of about 8 adults were gathered around a campfire in the back yard. I was one of 3 people who were grouped together to have a picture taken, and the rest of the group were sitting in a circle around the fire. Movement in the sky caught my eye and I looked up to see what it was. A bright greenish blue ball of light with an orange colored tail was shooting across the sky. I shouted "Look! look! look!" and each member of the group followed where I was looking. We all watched as this object shot across the sky and out of our direct view in an East to West direction.
I will attempt to put it into perspective. As I am looking out at the Southern sky, picture it as the top half of a clock (9 to 3). The view of the first 1/3 of the sky is obscured by a garage and trees. The object comes into view for me at about 11 o'clock and travels across the sky and is out of view by 2 o'clock. The object made no sound. This whole encounter lasted only about 3 seconds.
I recall having the time and foresight to call out "take a picture" as the object is at about the 1 o'clock position, but the photographer is so mesmerized and shocked that she was unable to get a picture taken.
We discuss and verify what we each saw. Later, another couple came to the house. We tell them what we saw and they both verify seeing the same thing from where they were in downtown Bemidji. Their description was very similar to what we described and they were about 3-4 miles South of where we were.
Trying to put the size of the object into perspective is difficult. Two different groups described very similar objects yet were 4 miles apart. So the object had to be quite large and quite far away. Yet the object still looked quite large in the sky. In comparing the size of a star or the moon as one looks up into the sky, I would have to describe the object as being about 1/4 the size of the moon.
So besides the obvious, out of the ordinary color, this object was large enough to not mistake it for a shooting star. I thought of a meteor because the orange colored tail made me think it would be hot, but it seemed to be maintaining its altitude as it shot across the sky, and not in a downward trajectory.
Some time after 1am, a group of about 8 adults were gathered around a campfire in the back yard. I was one of 3 people who were grouped together to have a picture taken, and the rest of the group were sitting in a circle around the fire. Movement in the sky caught my eye and I looked up to see what it was. A bright greenish blue ball of light with an orange colored tail was shooting across the sky. I shouted "Look! look! look!" and each member of the group followed where I was looking. We all watched as this object shot across the sky and out of our direct view in an East to West direction.
I will attempt to put it into perspective. As I am looking out at the Southern sky, picture it as the top half of a clock (9 to 3). The view of the first 1/3 of the sky is obscured by a garage and trees. The object comes into view for me at about 11 o'clock and travels across the sky and is out of view by 2 o'clock. The object made no sound. This whole encounter lasted only about 3 seconds.
I recall having the time and foresight to call out "take a picture" as the object is at about the 1 o'clock position, but the photographer is so mesmerized and shocked that she was unable to get a picture taken.
We discuss and verify what we each saw. Later, another couple came to the house. We tell them what we saw and they both verify seeing the same thing from where they were in downtown Bemidji. Their description was very similar to what we described and they were about 3-4 miles South of where we were.
Trying to put the size of the object into perspective is difficult. Two different groups described very similar objects yet were 4 miles apart. So the object had to be quite large and quite far away. Yet the object still looked quite large in the sky. In comparing the size of a star or the moon as one looks up into the sky, I would have to describe the object as being about 1/4 the size of the moon.
So besides the obvious, out of the ordinary color, this object was large enough to not mistake it for a shooting star. I thought of a meteor because the orange colored tail made me think it would be hot, but it seemed to be maintaining its altitude as it shot across the sky, and not in a downward trajectory.
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Bemidji
USA
3 seconds
3 seconds
47.55
-94.81
fireball
MN
Occurred : 5/12/2012 01:00 (Entered as : 5/12/12 01:00) Reported: 5/12/2012 6:46:16 PM 18:46 Posted: 5/13/2012 Location: Bemidji, MN Shape: Fireball Duration: 3 seconds
Ball of colored light shoots across Bemidji sky