2012-08-29 - Columbus, OH - Fireball

Orange Glowing Orb or Fireball seen over Columbus OH, (North OSU Campus)

Observation: Myself and a close friend were walking South in an alley between 18th and 17th Street, OSU Campus. We saw two objects in the sky to the South-East of our location. The objects appeared to be orange lights. They were travelling away from us (S.E.) at approx. 1000 feet above ground, and approx. 100-150 mph. The 2 objects travelled in the same direction, in a straight line formation. The second trailed the other by 100-200 feet. At this point they were quite far off, such that we did not get a detailed look at them. The objects left our field of vision in the distance to the South-East of us.

Then about 10-15 seconds later we observed what appeared to be the same orange objects, however this time the objects were to the North-East of us, travelling South-East. They were much closer this time, passing our longitude at a few hundred feet to the North of our location. At this point we observed the objects in greater detail. Both objects were travelling in the same trajectory as previously observed, with the same approx. altitude and velocity, travelling the same approx. distance apart. Their speed, altitude, and trajectory remained constant. The orange objects, now at a much closer distance to our position, appeared to be comprised of two sections, upper and lower. The upper section of the object appeared to be spherical in shape, with a light emitting a ‘glowing’ effect, rather than a ‘shining’ effect. The lower section was a shining orange light, and appeared to be swaying back and forth in relation to the upper part. These observed qualities led us to thi! nk that these were balloons, with a glowing globe, and an under-basket emitting a orange flame which illuminated the upper globe portion.

However a few questions remain unanswered. One, the objects appeared to be about the size of a small 4-person propeller plane. The orange globe appeared to be too similar in size to the orange light underneath for it to be the parachute of a balloon. Two, the objects travelled at a velocity much faster than a typical balloon. Three, how did the two objects move so quickly from the SE of us to the NE of us in a matter of seconds, or were there in fact 4 glowing objects in the sky? About the Observers: I am a 22 year old Music Instructor, recently graduated from Under-grad. My friend is 23 years old, on break from school, working as a restaurant server. We are house-mates and close friends. We both observed the same objects, agreeing on the physical characteristics, and details of the event, to the best of our knowledge. Neither of us were able to identify these objects, although our closest guess was some sort of balloon. We were intrigued by them and looked online with the intent to find some explanation of what they were. In our search we stumbled upon this reporting site and decided to write a report. We found that our observations match those of many of the other entries depicting a "red/orange fireball or Orb". The above three paragraphs contain my personal account of the events which took place, recorded to the best of my knowledge.

My friend recorded a short video-clip of the objects using his iPhone. But he went to bed, so I am unable to upload that at this time.