4 greenish-blue lights rotating around a red light, brief "meteor-like" sighting
Driving along 64 Westbound, about 1 mile east of Raleigh East Airport (W17). Saw a bright greenish-blue light (with a slight trail) appear about 10 degrees over the horizon (nearly directly west), RAPIDLY moving downward to the ground and disappearing. I assumed this was a meteor and made a joke about it being either a meteor, a missile or an UFO.
Within 10-20 seconds of this, the light reappeared at an elevation of about 40 degrees, still west of us. It appeared to be a series of 4 extremely bright greenish-blue lights forming a circle around a dim red light. The 4 lights were rapidly rotating around the red light (at ~15 RPM). This object rose rapidly, made a turn to the right (north) and suddenly shot back down to the earth (nearly identical to the original sighting but at MUCH closer range).
Distance, size and speed is hard to calculate at night (and with an object of unknown size). That said, the speed at which the object moved was roughly that of a fast moving meteor burning up in the atmosphere. The object was also much larger on the second sighting, so I'd assume that we were much closer.
Driving along 64 Westbound, about 1 mile east of Raleigh East Airport (W17). Saw a bright greenish-blue light (with a slight trail) appear about 10 degrees over the horizon (nearly directly west), RAPIDLY moving downward to the ground and disappearing. I assumed this was a meteor and made a joke about it being either a meteor, a missile or an UFO.
Within 10-20 seconds of this, the light reappeared at an elevation of about 40 degrees, still west of us. It appeared to be a series of 4 extremely bright greenish-blue lights forming a circle around a dim red light. The 4 lights were rapidly rotating around the red light (at ~15 RPM). This object rose rapidly, made a turn to the right (north) and suddenly shot back down to the earth (nearly identical to the original sighting but at MUCH closer range).
Distance, size and speed is hard to calculate at night (and with an object of unknown size). That said, the speed at which the object moved was roughly that of a fast moving meteor burning up in the atmosphere. The object was also much larger on the second sighting, so I'd assume that we were much closer.
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Off
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Yes
Raleigh
USA
~7 seconds
~7 seconds
35.83
-78.64
circle
NC
Occurred : 11/11/2016 19:30 (Entered as : 11/11/16 19:30) Reported: 11/13/2016 6:19:58 AM 06:19 Posted: 12/5/2016 Location: Raleigh, NC Shape: Circle Duration: ~7 seconds Characteristics: There were lights on the object, The object left a trail, There was an aura or haze around the object
4 greenish-blue lights rotating around a red light, brief "meteor-like" sighting