Question: About 7:10 PM om Friday October 23, 2009 in Pinehurst I was out walking, and in the east-southeast sky was a large yellow light slowly descending. As is came towards the horizon there was a distinctive tail. Would it have been a meteor, comet, or space junk?

Answer: Your description pretty firmly rules out a comet, as they are distant objects that do not appear to move immediately across the sky at a rate any different than stars, planets and so forth. While a piece of re-entering space debris can't absolutely be ruled out, it seems much more likely you saw a meteor. On that date, three different meteor showers are active, although not at their peaks, and of course a "sporadic" meteor not associated with a particular shower is always possible as well. It is interesting that you noted fairly slow movement and a yellow color. That description is quite consistent with meteors produced as part of the Southern Taurids shower. You can read about that and other showers throughout the year at www.namnmeteors.org/appendixA.html.