Debate: Did that fireball over Phoenix last week have a trail or not?

I was out back behind the restaurant on my smoke break around 1 AM, saw this bright orange light streak across the sky from north to south with a sparkly tail that faded fast. My coworker swears it was just a meteor but I'm telling you it slowed down and changed direction slightly before vanishing. Anyone else see that thing and which side are you on, meteor or something weirder?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_tessa20d ago

My dad's a pilot and always tells me people see things change direction or speed up because our brains are bad at judging distance and movement in the dark sky lol. But honestly I've noticed this happens a lot more than people admit, like the time my whole street swore a drone was hovering over the neighborhood but next day it was just a weather balloon explanation. The thing about the trail is key though, because if it had a clear tail and faded fast that's textbook meteor stuff but the slowing down part is what gets me.

aaron_perry19d ago

Hang on, is nobody else gonna point out that the north to south thing actually makes it MORE likely it was a meteor? Meteors can come from any direction depending on where the debris field is, that's not weird at all. The direction change is just your eyes playing tricks because the object is moving in a straight line but your brain is trying to track it against a starry background with no reference points. A pilot would tell you the same thing happens with planes at altitude - they seem to hang or turn when they're really just flying straight. And the fading trail? That's exactly what a meteor does when it burns up. Slowing down is also normal as it hits thicker air and loses speed before burning out completely. People want it to be something strange but the simple explanation fits all the details.

carter.joseph20d ago

Wait, did anyone else catch that it was moving from north to south? Cause most meteors I've seen go east to west or random directions, that north/south thing sticks out. Trail fading fast is normal for a meteor, but the direction change before disappearing is the part I can't explain away. The pilot excuse works for some stuff but not when you've got a clear view against a dark sky.