Mysterious Southwestern Lights Spur UFO Talk

Whatever it was that streaked from west to east through the sky Wednesday night over several southwest states still has people wondering if it was a meteor, fireball, space debris or, you guessed it, a UFO.

Keep in mind that UFO means Unidentified Flying Object, so by definition, it is, for now at least, a UFO. From Southern California to Arizona and Nevada, eyewitnesses reported a series of green-blue and yellowish lights.

Astronomer Edwin Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, told The Huffington Post the object was most likely a meteor.

"Nobody's got a clue exactly how big this object was, but it's got to be something you could hold in your hand," Krupp said. "It can be anywhere from a pebble to a rock to a football -- it's a very small object."

WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF THE METEOR:

The general description of the object received by news outlets and police departments during the early evening was of a green and orange falling object with a tail behind it.

Krupp explains that eyewitnesses find it hard to believe when they learn the "UFO" they just saw was actually quite small.

"What often confuses people when you say that is they start thinking, 'Wait a minute. If this is a very tiny object, how come I can see it?' Of course, they're not seeing it -- they're seeing the super-heated air, which is a huge column of air that could be miles in diameter.

"Once I heard that the reports were coming in from Arizona and Nevada, I knew this was not a local event at all. To see something over that wide an area, you know that it's happening at a high altitude," Krupp added.

Curiously, in the television news reports of the streaking meteor, one video shows something that doesn't look to be a falling star or piece of space debris. It depicts a couple of lit objects over Glendora, Calif., that seem to slowly move back and forth in the sky -- not exactly typical meteor behavior.

Could these have been other types of unexplainable objects?

"Certainly, it's correct to say that most people are not used to looking at the sky, not used to evaluating either brightness, distance or angular size in the sky, and therefore, have a very good chance of misidentifying objects or effects in the sky," said Krupp. "There are all kinds of explanations for UFOs, and the least likely is that they're spacecraft from another world.

"There are sometimes odd lights seen in the sky that elude identification, because we don't have enough information to pin them down."

WATCH THIS NEWS REPORT OF THE SOUTHWEST METEOR:

Comments

[R.W. Sanders]

04:29 AM on 09/21/2011

I was lucky enough to see this same phenomena when I was about sixteen. It was in Southwest Missouri and looked exactly like the one in this video. The next day, we heard that they had found the meteorite in Oklahoma. So I am sure this is what I saw, and it was quite beautiful. I wish I had seen this most recent one as well.

I don't discount the possibility of some ufo's being intelligently controlled. Whether they are of earthly origin or extraterrestrial remains to be discovered. But I have seen something in the sky in Phoenix in the mid seventies, that I cannot explain. It certainly was not a meteor, balloon or anything else. It actually looked like a laser light display, but I don't believe those were in use back then. And besides that, I have never seen such a sophisticated display, even today. So because I am unable to explain what I saw, I have to call it a ufo. An unidentified flying object, though this one actually hovered rather than flew. It just appeared for perhaps two minutes, then disappeared by fading out, which I think is also uncharacteristic of laser lights. Oh, and this was in broad desert daylight without a cloud in the sky. I and two friends plus my dog were walking home from the grocery store, and we all saw this object. Even the dog reacted by cowering. So, I am not a skeptic, but more of an inquisitor.

[SarcasticFringehead]

04:30 PM on 09/19/2011

No, no, no!

It had to be an extra-terrestial space craft filled with "grays" who must have kidnapped another hapless earthling with which to perform their "anal probe" experiments upon.

[Alen Bilic]

03:04 PM on 09/19/2011

I think we have to ditch the science as we know it. I am not saying that it’s all wrong but for the most part it is. It’s ridiculously funny how our scientists prove themselves wrong with “new more accurate discoveries” almost daily. Nothing new here, we have some “smart folks” explaining what it was and we are to believe it.

[BlexClex]

07:28 AM on 09/19/2011

That was Lord Kimboat who was taking his normal break from the middle earth to sight-see across the USA and put fear into the outer space aliens that he's still around and can scream at them until they go back to alpha centuri. I know this to be 100% reliable information from a valid source.

[Parade Keegan]

02:25 PM on 09/18/2011

It's "god"!

[KevinGregg]

10:41 PM on 09/17/2011

Is it correct to call a falling object a UFO? The F in UFO stands for "flying", not falling. Falling is not flying.

[brittanylynn3]

02:33 AM on 09/18/2011

It is not literally correct, but the sentiment is generally understood.

[Iam12Vote]

09:11 PM on 09/17/2011

Science is bitchen.

[Wafik Benzakour]

07:50 PM on 09/17/2011

Thank-you for the information it' very spectaculary.

[Melinda Kabat]

07:26 PM on 09/17/2011

I've seen some pretty strange objects. Where we live is very dark, and can see the milky way. Hubby and I both witnesses UFO's on 2 occasions. 1st time...was dozens of "bubbles" in the sky, surrounded by black "smoke," that disappeared into thin air. 2nd time...2 bright blue lights, w/ obvious intelligent control, zipped across the sky in a matter of seconds, and were at a low altitude, in front of a helicopter. Other times I have stationary "stars" all of a sudden move at crazy speeds across the sky.

Now, I can't say for certain what I saw was piloted by "extra-terrestrials," but that is my hypothesis. I don't know if this was a meteor or something else...the witnesses surely know better than us what they saw. I saw a fireball meteor before and it looked nothing like this. It was red, like a "ball of fire" would appear. This object was blue first then green, switching colors, and it almost appeared to change it's trajectory at one point.

[Annika Vecchione]

07:22 PM on 09/17/2011

it could have something to do with military bases since i think many top secret military areas are around that area. I think they are called "blank spots" on the map

[onlyThis]

06:37 PM on 09/17/2011

I kinda sorta used to believe in UFO's but soooo many have been proven to be hoaxes, esp in the digital age, that I don't believe anymore.

[Dogma]

04:44 PM on 09/17/2011

Hopi prophecy:

"And this is the Ninth and Last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a BLUE STAR. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.

"These are the Signs that great destruction is coming. The world shall rock to and fro. The white man will battle against other people in other lands -- with those who possessed the first light of wisdom.

"There will be many columns of smoke and fire such as White Feather has seen the white man make in the deserts not far from here. Only those which come will cause disease and a great dying.

"Many of my people, understanding the prophecies, shall be safe. Those who stay and live in the places of my people also shall be safe. Then there will be much to rebuild. And soon -- very soon afterward -- Pahana will return.

"He shall bring with him the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in their hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth the way to the Emergence into the Fifth World."

[goldiggerrr]

06:38 PM on 09/17/2011

Interesting. Go on....

[Dogma]

04:08 AM on 09/18/2011

Well, there's something like 40 ancient cultures which predicted this as an age of major upheaval and rebirth... I'm not a disciple of 2012, but when one factors the major climate, political and economic changes (never mind what's going on in the skies), then it doesn't seem so far-fetched that the Ancients were keepers of a knowledge that we have lost along the way. They understood cycles.

[pega5]

04:08 PM on 09/17/2011

not to worry .its just rick perry driving in his UFO again.

[patriciaagerard]

03:51 PM on 09/17/2011

Didn't they report on the news Friday night that a satellite was scheuled to fall into Earths space anytime now? My question is, why didn't they just bring it down on the last shuttle? They knew it was falling!

[Lefty Pockets]

09:26 PM on 09/17/2011

They've been letting old satellites burn up via reentry for decades. Its not really dangerous, though occasionally pieces of space gear do make it through the atmosphere. But it would be a big waste of time and money for NASA to bring back every retired space doodad rather than just let gravity do the work for you.

[lavisiter]

03:46 PM on 09/17/2011

MY first hand report: I came within 20 feet of this or maybe its equivalent. BUT it was Tuesday, NOT Wednesday when all the phone reports came in.

I was driving along Highway 64 - it was already dark....suddenly what looked (like this) except it was an orange "smaller" ball with a long white/orange tail. It appeared suddenly from East and literally shot past my car to the right and within 20 feet from the ground - and maybe 20 feet out from the outer edge of the highway. It was very fast but it shot down to the level of my car and whizzed right past WITHOUT crashing? And it was Tuesday night. It was extraordinary and but for twenty feet - it would have hit my car and I would have been blasted off the planet. I personally don't think a meteor would come out of nowhere that low and then just fly off? .....but it also didn't seem large enough for what I would think would be a UFO.....AND many people out on the MESA have been having cell phone connection problems for the first time in the last several weeks...... I'd like to know what is going on!