2012-08-12 - Keansburg, NJ - Fireball

Silent object glowing orange gradually falls across sky, comes back up, hovers, is passed by two aircraft, then flickers out of sight.

I went out on the balcony sometime after 10:40pm to try and catch a glimpse of the Persieds, as the night had cleared up enough for star visibility. Northbound, in between 8-9 o'clock from the direction of the rising sun in the area I spotted a bright orange light with the naked eye.

At first I assumed it to be one of the bright Perseids fireballs, given the particular night. However, it did not flicker out as expected and as it followed the normal trajectory of a meteor moving across the sky it slowed down and suddenly began to rise back into the sky. It rose at a slightly faster pace than the one it had been falling at, and when it had traveled far enough (in between 10-11 o'clock from the direction of the rising sun) it stopped midair and hovered for about a minute and a half.

Two aircraft right flew past it during that time, clearly identified as such by their blinking lights. The object itself also blinked, but not the way an airplane would - as it was entirely consumed in light its 'blinking' was more of a flicker, like a meteor. It was also completely silent; the only sounds heard were those of the two planes that passed it. Shortly afterward it began to shrink/dim in and seemingly disappeared out of existence. I waited for about thereafter in case it returned - it did not.