2012-05-30 - Tempe, AZ - Unknown

Object with fiery tail shot off into the sky

I noticed dawn was just starting to fall upon the area as I looked out through my patio doors. I was looking north through two French doors, which face east, and saw an object with an ENE or NE trajectory shoot off into the sky just above the tree line. It looked rather similar to a meteor or firework with a very bright and rather thick orange, fiery tail (which had a bright orangish-yellow band within its core) that tapered out roughly 30 feet from the object itself. It was not a meteor, however, due to the fact that its trajectory was upward (as opposed to towards the ground); it shot into the sky at about a 45 degree angle. I'm positive it was not a firework; its tail was an extremely vivid, almost fluorescent orange, unlike anything I've seen before. The air was still and dead silent. Its path was also slightly arched, which seemed to mimic the shape of a nearby tree canopy's silhouette. My view was obstructed by a few trees, but I got a clear shot of th! e object through a pocket of clear space between trees. I was not able to see the object that produced the fiery tail, however, as it was much smaller than the tail itself, and traveled away much too quickly. It seemed to be rather close though; between 50-200 yards away and only 40-60 feet off the ground. And though I cannot say with 100% certainty, I also feel the object disappeared when I lost sight of it (as opposed to me losing visibility); it just vanished, much like shooting stars do as they fall toward the ground.

This occurred near sky harbor airport, beneath incoming/outgoing flight lines, yet at this early hour no incoming red-eye planes were present. The roads were quiet as well.