I have told this story when conversations come up regarding unexplained phenomena. There was a recent post on askreddit regarding weird/creepy things we have encountered: http://ift.tt/1McOuak Anyway, that triggered my memory and I have always wanted to find out more information about the occurrence, so I thought I might ask some experts. So, here goes...
Back in 1996 or 1997, I was driving home after work. I was a bartender so it was night. Anyway, half the sky lit up and the surrounding countryside looked like it was noon (no exaggeration). Anyway, the highway that I was traveling on was running south, but it is winding road. The half of the sky that lit up was to my left (as was the satellite), but because of the nature of the road that direction could have slightly NE to almost due South. If my memory serves me correctly, I think it was probably between E and SE, but can't be sure. I believe I was right around here 34.394496, -93.111605 when it happened.
I pulled my car over and got out and looked up into the sky. It sort of looked like a plane with one wing snapped off was falling straight down while the one wing was rotating on a horizontal axis. There wasn't any kind of tail to the back portion of the object. It looked tubular with maybe a solar panel sticking out. Flames were falling behind the object, almost like a gas trail, as well as around the object and the wing or solar panel. As I was watching it, a dime sized (as if you were holding it at arms distance, so for something in the sky it was huge) star trek looking insignia with a rounded bottom (poorly drawn picture of satellite and other object http://ift.tt/1YLu3IO) shot across the entire horizon, from one side to the other in a matter of seconds (maybe 2-4). A tiny dot fell off of the alpha shapped object about half-way across the sky and burned out almost imediately. Anyway, the area that I watched it go down in was hilly, so when it disappeared behind a hill, I called 911.
The place where I parked had a pay phone, so I called 911 to report a plane crashing. They transferred me to the airport where I was assured that there was no planes that had gone down as they would have been able to pick that up by its transponder.
So, I am assuming it was a satellite re-entering our atmosphere. Regardless, it was an amazing sight that I will never forget. I would love to be able to figure out which satellite it might have been. And what the object that flew over across the sky right after it was.
I live in Central Arkansas, I told a friend about it and he said that he heard that people in Louisiana had seen something similar as well.
Someone, mentioned the alpha object could have been an iridium flare. Would an iridium flare travel from horizon to horizon in a matter of seconds?
Googling for satellite re-entries in 1996 turned up Dong Fang Hong 37 aka Jianbing 93 http://ift.tt/1V2kRzI. Does anyone know if it fits the profile of what I saw from my picture? Would it have been possible for me to see it from my approximate position? Or do I need to keep looking? Any help you guys could give me, I would really appreciate. Or if you could point me in the right direction of who to ask, if I am in the wrong place, I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Submitted March 12, 2016 at 06:57PM by balderic http://ift.tt/1nFTpKw
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