# What Fell Flaming from the Sky Yesterday? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2007, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854 "2007-11-01T12:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/21 "2007-11-02T00:28:35Z")
I saw one much like the OP describes in 1997 or '98. I lived in a small town in Iowa then, and I was walking the dog one night when I happened to glance up just as the thing started to burn. It began near the northern horizon and came zooming along until it was just about directly overhead before it finished burning up. The whole thing took maybe three or four seconds. It was amazing; it left a trail of golden-colored sparks behind it. The night was so quiet, and the visual sensation so strong, that I actually hallucinated that I could hear the thing sizzling through the atmosphere, even as I knew that was ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/22 "2007-11-02T00:32:40Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Besides “jeez, I wish I knew what that is”? [/QUOTE] I don’t know. Perhaps there should be a thing about large heft? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/23 "2007-11-02T01:15:14Z")
[QUOTE=jackelope] The night was so quiet, and the visual sensation so strong, that I actually hallucinated that I could hear the thing sizzling through the atmosphere, even as I knew that was ridiculous. [/QUOTE] I was walking on a country road with my mother and sister late one night in about 1989, and I saw _and heard_ one. This thing was almost flare-like, as it seemed to move a bit more slowly than the smaller “shooting stars”. It was orange, it left a cloud trail, and yes, it crackled. It was a few short, staccato bursts of sound. Not terribly loud, but unmistakable nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/24 "2007-11-02T05:20:00Z")
Clearly, the next thing you need to do is [get a glass snowdrop flower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_%28novel%29)… ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/25 "2007-11-02T10:53:14Z")
I fell out of the sky baby…and into your dreams…_cheesy grin, holding a martini_ ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/26 "2007-11-02T13:51:22Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] I fell out of the sky baby.. [/QUOTE] But, are you _flaming_? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/27 "2007-11-02T14:04:47Z")
[QUOTE=Yeticus Rex] Although I do believe that it was a meteor you saw (depending on how degrees of sky it crossed), a secondary explanation could be an Iridium Flash which is a reflection from a certain group of satellites that have large panels on them that reflect sunlight very well. [/QUOTE] I saw one of these things once long before I knew they existed. I was sleeping at the base of the grand canyon so there was zero light polution and I could see satelites all over the place. I was actually watching this particularly fast satellite when I noticed it was getting brighter. Then it got really bright and I thought something was going to happen. Then it just faded away to as dim as the other satelites. For years I wondered what it was, until someplace here it was described. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/28 "2007-11-03T09:00:36Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] I was walking on a country road with my mother and sister late one night in about 1989, and I saw _and heard_ one. This thing was almost flare-like, as it seemed to move a bit more slowly than the smaller “shooting stars”. It was orange, it left a cloud trail, and yes, it crackled. It was a few short, staccato bursts of sound. Not terribly loud, but unmistakable nonetheless. [/QUOTE] No offense, **TheLoadedDog** , but you couldn’t possibly have heard it unless you heard it a good bit after you saw it. It had to be at least several miles up in the atmosphere; if it was two miles up (and it was almost certainly more), it would take ten seconds for the sound to reach you. You don’t say in your post, but I get the impression you “heard” it at the same time you saw it. If that’s the case, I suspect your hearing it was an auditory hallucination like mine. If the sound came later, though, then I believe you. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854/29 "2007-11-03T10:19:15Z")
There have been numerous reports of hissing sounds heard simultaneously with meteors, even though any sound from the meteor should have taken a long time to reach the observer. See the section labeled “Sound” in this Wikipedia entry: > **[Meteoroid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor)** > > A meteoroid (/ˈmiːtiərɔɪd/) is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. > Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Most are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars. > A meteor or shooting star is the visible passage of a meteoroid, comet... Nobody has a good explanation for this. Some have conjectured that the passage of the meteor through the atmosphere causes electromagnetic radiation which somehow people can hear. (I just report this. I don’t necessarily agree with it or make any attempt to explain it, so spare me your snide comments.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fell-flaming-from-the-sky-yesterday/424854.md?page=1)