I'm only posting this here because I'm curious if anyone else saw what I saw tonight.

I work in Bethesda, Maryland in the United States (near Washington, DC). I was walking from my office to where I park my car at about 6:10, when something in the sky caught my eye. It looked a bit like an aircraft, except the light was a steady bluish-white, it had a long luminescent trail, and it was moving several times faster than any aircraft I've ever seen. And it just kept going and going! I'm sure it was visible for 5 - 6 seconds, and covered a distance of about 1/2 of the sky. I was walking in a SE direction, and the path of the Earth grazer was perfectly perpendicular to my direction (moving NE to SW), and it was about 60 degrees above the horizon.

Living near Washington, DC, I am used to seeing odd military aircraft from time to time, so for a moment, that's what I thought I was seeing. Then I remembered today's date, and realized what it actually was.

Anyone else see this by chance?

J. D.

A Geminid would have come from the direction of Gemini, which I believe would have been below the horizon and to the east at 6 p.m. (I presume). Since what you saw was coming from the north-east, it could have been a Geminid, but it may have been a sporadic.

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PW -- Plant Whisperer

While ovbserving the Aurora Show (12/14/06) from northern lower Michigan around 8:45PM (local time), I saw a bright fireball streak halfway across the sky, from Gemini to the west, under Cassiopeia. I don' remember seeing a meteor that was brighter.

The neates part of this great aurora show is that I was able to share it with my 10 year-old son. The aurora was spectacular, perhaps a one-in-a lifetime thing for him.

tbm

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