NUFORC Sighting 12784

Occurred: 2000-05-03 22:30 Local
Reported: 2000-05-04 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 45 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Surprise (witnessed from), AZ, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

I was the first to see the unidentified object at approximately 22:00 hours PM. The "object" flickered brightly in four distinct colors. Red, blue, green and white. It moved at what had to be a high rate of speed left and right, stopping quickly at times and changing directions. When I observed a jet liner heading for it I noticed it faded in brightness and remained still then resumed its right and left movement as soon as the aircraft cleared. It finally lowered so that we lost sight of the "object"at approximately 23:00 PM

Object, at first appeared to be an overly bright star. The abrupt right and left movements said differently. It was located in the lower northwest sky of my home, in the direction of Lake Pleasant, but further out. The object had flickering lights of red, blue, green and white and looked as if it was rotating to show the different colors as they would be bright then fade and the other color would take its place. When I saw it head one direction then stop and head back as if in a straight line to it's starting point and repeat the movement in the other direction <----x----> I was very sceptable, but curious. Sometimes it would move in one direction in short bursts then reversed and do the long movement. From my perspective it was moving approximately three inches in one direction then reversing to go back to it's original spot. The short burst were about one inch in length and it was either three burst or two at a time. I am not sure how that would calculate in miles. The distance is too great to even estimate for me. I called my daughter out to confirm. She said she was seeing the same thing. She called her boyfriend out and he also saw what we were seeing. We watched this strange occurance for about 45 minutes, using other stars and hand held object to determine if it was a star or something else. The hand held object were stationary and the "object" was mobile. It kept the same distance from the reference star until it slowly lowered and disappeared from our sight, the reference star(Cappella) remained where it was. This is my third sighting in 53 years. At age 9 I witnessed a group of 5 lights dancing (moving up and down and sideways and going brighter and fading) on the horizon while I lived in Tucson, AZ. Tucson has no street lights in 1956. There were about 100 people, police and military included, who witnessed the event. My Dad a military man was told not to say anything. That was in the days of "Project Bluebook". In 1976 I saw a strange object in the sky near Redlands, CA. My date and I watched it "hover" for about 15 minutes then shoot off at a 45 degree angle and disappear. The newspaper report that several people in that area witnessed the same thing. When I checked the sky on the night of May 4, 2000 It did not see anything unusual as I had the night before. Our reference star was, however, present.

ADDENDUM TO REPORT (Submitted 05MY00):

I would like to change my report given to you last night. Details below

After summiting my report I again found myself in my backyard, but at a later time. When I looked where I had seen the "object" the night before I again witnessed the "light" doing the same movements with the same color changes. (Red, blue, green and white) I now feel that it is a star and as the earth rotates changing the placment of the stars this particular one is in an area that distorts it due to something in our atmosphere. (i.e. smog or heat waves) I can find no other explanation for it being the only "star" in the sky to have such abrupt and unusual movements. I am sorry to have wasted your time.

NUFORC Note:

Report is not inconsistent with a "twinkling" star. Please see addendum below. PD

Posted 2000-05-11