2016-01-14 - Marion, IA - Fireball

Burning fireball traveling fast over Marion Iowa towards the northeast.

Thursday, January 14th 2016, I was out on my usual 5 mile walk around northeast Marion, IA. At 9:10pm, I noticed a bright burning object in the clear night sky when I was southbound on Rosewood Ridge Drive. It was approaching from the southwest traveling northeast fast.

I knew instantly that this wasn’t a plane or jet. No blinking lights, no sound whatsoever. It was not a meteor because it never burnt up. The object had no trail but yet it was burning. Object was not a candle balloon lantern, as it was much larger and higher in the sky, traveling fast.

Also it was not the ISS either, as I am a regular observer of the space station and this object was clearly not in orbit. The burning object passed over me at about 60 degrees and even as it flew off towards the northeast, the whole object still burned as it had been burning the whole time. Roughly about 3 minutes from the time I first saw it, to when it slowly disappeared toward the northeast horizon.

Exact description: about the size of a jet, sphere shaped, burning, looked like fire but it stayed in the ! shape of a sphere, no trail whatsoever, no blinking lights, no sound.

The whole time I just stood still in the street watching this object. No cars had passed while I watched, and no people around whatsoever. A very silent and clear night in January.