Drawing of Object Prepared by Peter Davenport
of National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC)
NUFORC Received Several Reports on Dec. 10, 2007
(http://www.nuforc.org)

Date of Sighting: December 10, 2007
Time of Sighting: 8:00 PM EST
Date Sighting Reported: December 10, 2007
Duration of Sighting: About 15 Minutes
Location of Sighting: Orlando (Central), Jacksonville (North), and Taveres (South), Florida
Latitude: 28.5 Degrees North (Orlando)
Longitude: 81.4 Degrees West (Orlando)
Number of Witnesses: Multiple Witnesses in Jacksonville and Taveres. 1 Witness in Orlando
Number of Witnesses Interviewed: One (Orlando)
Weather: Clear Skies. Visibility 10 Miles. (All Locations)

Description( In Witness's Own Words): My 2 nephews called me from Jacksonville, Florida and told me to look straight up and to the slightly north sky (I'm near Orlando). I went to the roof with binoculars and found what they were looking at. I thought at first it was Holmes Comet. It looked like a comet, fuzzy, with a pretty long tail. My nephews said they watched it for about 15 minutes before calling, stating it was much brighter when they first saw it, and that it was moving. In 2 minutes, I watched it move about 6 inches (don't know how to measure astronomy) from the west of a constellation to the east side of the constellation. It moved in the direction of its tail, fading as it went. A very small, very bright point of light flashed briefly about every 2 minutes. The flash was sort of reddish. The light stayed located near what would be the head. Do comets move this quickly? Do they flash a timed, bright pin-point of light? My nephew also called his mother in Palm Beach county and they also visualized this event. What do you think?

Investigator's Notes: I don't think that this object was a comet because it was seen moving. The only comet visible in the northern hemisphere at this time is comet McNaught, but the magnitude of brightness is quite "faint." Apparently the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) received several similar reports from the east coast on December 10 starting at around 6 PM EST. Peter Davenport (Director of NUFORC) thinks that the object could have been a space vehicle venting fuel. Any others who saw this object are urged to file a report. (Drawings, photos, videos, welcome.) A similar sighting report was received from Athens, Tennessee on the same night. Click here to read about the Athens sighting.

Update: December 15, 2007 - An article in the Yarmouth County Vanguard News indicates that the likely source of the above sighting was an Atlas V booster from a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida on the same night.

Update: December 18, 2007 - An article in the December 17, 2007 Issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology Magazine says that December 10, 2007 "Light Show" was due to fuel oozing from Atlas V rocket booster.