2012-12-17 - Delray Beach, FL - Fireball

2 fiery orange spheres moving west to east

I was swimming by myself at about 7:30 P.M. In Delray Beach, Florida on Monday, December 17,2012, when I saw a bright orange light approaching from the west and heading straight east.

At first I momentarily thought it was fireworks, then when it kept moving through the sky I thought it might be part of the meteor display I had been told about. But the light kept coming steadily and really didn't seem like a meteor. Next I thought it might be a helicopter with a bright search light. But as it came closer there was no helicopter noise. And then I thought it was a plane on fire. I was horrified. But it kept moving at the same speed and did not change direction. It passed completely over and I watched it go east over the Atlantic Ocean. This took about 2 minutes.

I turned back to the west to get out of the pool and was astounded to see another flaming ball approaching from the west following in the same path as the first going at exactly the same speed. I could still see the first orange red fireball and watched as the second one silently followed the first out over the ocean. They appeared to stay at exactly the same height.

I gradually lost sight of the first one and then lost sight of the second about 2 minutes later. The total time seemed to be about 5 minutes. At first I thought they might have been military experiments. But after some cursory research, I suspect they are pieces of space debris still in orbit but on fire. Seeing as there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris out there, this makes the most sense. Especially given their straight path and steady speed. What do you think?