What could this object in the sky have been?

Asked by nikipedia (28095

) January 12th, 2010

My boyfriend and I were on the highway (heading south on the 405 between LAX and Long Beach) and we both saw a blue light appear in the sky very briefly. It appeared to be moving rapidly, and while we had a clear line of sight, it disappeared after only a second or so.

We concluded it was most likely a shooting star, but I am wondering if there are any other possible explanations. That stretch of highway is near a lot of airports with heavy air traffic, so it seems reasonable that this light could have been some kind of plane, except it moved too quickly and appeared to briefly to be a normal, commercial plane.

Can any aviation enthusiasts or astronomers solve this mystery?

Observing members: 0

Composing members: 0

9 Answers

shooting stars can glow blue from time to time, i has been known. depends what materials its made of.

poisonedantidote (21680

)“Great Answer” (1

) Flag as…

It could have been a military aircraft with the engine on afterburner, that would show as blue. Perceptions of speed, distance and shapes can be distorted and difficult to interpret at night.

stranger_in_a_strange_land (18360

)“Great Answer” (2

) Flag as…

I’ve seen green blue and orange shooting stars, that’s most likely if you percieved it as moving fast.

Was it bright? dim? Undulating?

Los Alamitos Army Air Field was probably right infront of you, so if it was low in the sky, it could be that.

Also could have been fireworks (illegal or whatnot) or a reflection in the car window.

grumpyfish (6657

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…

You can check this site to see if it was a piece of space debris re-entering.

I once saw on go across the sky, and it was very startling.

marinelife (62485

)“Great Answer” (1

) Flag as…

It was obviously Marvin the martian.

NaturalMineralWater (11303

)“Great Answer” (1

) Flag as…

Harry Potter and his team of Auror protectors.

Finley (833

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…

The safest answer is a UFO… because UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object.

Narcojloleptic (26

)“Great Answer” (2

) Flag as…

There was a similar story in Norway about a circular spinning object with a blue light behind it. The explanation to this strange blue light could be missle launch failure. The debris from the launch gathered in the air, reacted to something, and became a ‘blue light’.

hungertoragejr (266

)“Great Answer” (1

) Flag as…