"Jonathan, come here!  What is that?" Mardi said in a disturbed, yet curious tone.  So started our night at about 7:30 yesterday evening.

We had quite a show from "something" in the sky.  The trail from the object was extremely bright…too bright to be an airplane contrail.  And then, this happened (see the photo).  This clued me in that this was something from/going to space.  The object started to look like a comet, but it was really moving fast.

So, off to Google we go, and we come up with a link to So-CalSkylights.Org, a site devoted to information on rocket launches from Vandenburg and Andrews Air force Bases.  An there is was, a Minotaur rocket launch at 7:30 p.m.  Thus our mysterious lights were confirmed to be satellite launch by the Air Force.  The photo above shows the rocket just at 1st stage booster rocket separation.

VERY COOL.

Check out the link below to the San Diego paper.  They have some more great photos.

Jonathan

Link: SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State — Rocket carrying military satellite launches, displays colors.