Rocket or Meteor?? Over Southern California

[GreenPoet64]

Does anyone in California see the trail left by something in the western sky tonight? Any idea what it is? My son called to tell me to go outside and look. He and a friend saw something streak across the sky high in the atmosphere. There's a huge purplish pink trail. (No I don't believe in U.F.O.'s)

[evlbstrd]

1. I read that there was a fireball over Florida last night.

Wierdness.

[whistle]

8. How so, it was raining and overcast in Florida last night

[NYC]

11. Read this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x12810

[evlbstrd]

12. Hey, I don't know. But it was on one of the local newscasts.

[msongs]

2. does it look like this? ->

trail is very wavy, kind thick, over the westernmost horizon?

probably a rocket launch from vandenburg air base near lompoc. they tend to do them near sunset for some reason.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/clark2008.htm

[GreenPoet64]

4. Yes, thick and waivy . . . one curl-like loop . . .

appears to have originated low in the horizon. Yes, westernmost. Sounds like a plausible explanation. Thanks!

[Oerdin]

15. When I lived in Santa Barbara

We'd see all sorts of rocket launches from Vandenburg.

[davepc]

3. Vandenberg AFB launched a satellite tonight.

http://www.lompocrecord.com/articles/2005/09/21/news/news06.txt

A hybrid rocket set to carry a military research satellite to space near sunset Thursday could provide a colorful light show in the autumn skies.

The Minotaur rocket and its classified payload are scheduled to blast off between 7:24 and 7:40 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-8, the most southern launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The ground-launched hybrid - its lower portion is a retired Minuteman missile and its upper segments are Pegasus rocket parts - is assembled by Orbital Sciences Corp.

[GreenPoet64]

7. Thank you! That explains it.

With all that's going on in the world--sure makes me feel better to know what it was. THank you.

[silverweb]

5. My daughter called me to go look, too.

She's at work in Hillcrest, which is just north of downtown San Diego, and it's apparently west of the city over the ocean. Speculation is rampant that it's some kind of military experiment. I'm too far northeast from her to be able to see more than light pollution from downtown. She said it looks kind of like the aurora borealis.

It'll have to be on the 11 o'clock news tonight!

[cosmicdot]

6. saw it

very strange looking ...

I'm glad others saw it, too.

[doublethink]

9. Ya know .....

all :tinfoilhat: thinking aside ..... Vandenberg Air Force Base has been launching shit up there for eternity since I was born and before. I remember my dad telling me about that base since I was weeeeee so hi. "Yea that's just Vandenberg launching another whatever the f ...k?" Has anyone ever investigated this base like Area 51 or .... the Nasa Space Station in Florida, or .... any other high profile base in America? NO. Really I have no point to make in this thread except to say that :hi:

[delete_bush]

10. I thought it was a plane

with a fan shaped contrail caused by some weird atmospheric condition.

Satellite launch makes more sense, I guess. This was way cool, I wish they'd do one of these weekly and announce them in advance.

[Lex]

13. Any pix of it yet?

[question everything]

14. Picture

From http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050922-1958-ca-rocketlaunch.html

[melody]

19. Classic Vandenberg stuff n/t

[chaulieu]

16. Ted flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco

I saw this from the plane tonight. A passanger brought it to the attention of the crew and took a picture. No one had an explanation for what it was.

[melody]

17. Vandenberg - happens all the time, ever since I was a Munchkin

Looks very weird to non-natives, but it's just a launch.

[ronnykmarshall]

18. Same here.

I used to see those a lot when we lived in SLO county.

My other half was a little freaked out last night when he saw it.

[Cleita]

20. They are shooting those minutemen missiles from

Vandenberg. You can see them for miles and miles when there is no cloud cover. I live near Vandenberg and I notice that they shoot some stuff that actually causes what seems like small tremors when it's really foggy and overcast so you can't see them. There is some crap going on that we aren't being told about.