NUFORC Sighting 26305

Occurred: 2002-11-28 21:50 Local
Reported: 2002-11-28 22:27 Pacific
Duration: 8-10 min.
No of observers: 1

Location: Glen Ellen, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

Blue and Red Lights in the Sky

This is probably nothing, but I thought I'd report it in case someone else does too.

At about 9:50 pm as I was watching television, I saw a bright light out of the corner of my eye, in the window that faces ENE. I live in Glen Ellen, in the Sonoma Valley of California, and that would put the light in the direction of Oakville (over the mountains in Napa Valley).

What I thought odd about the light was that it was particularly bright, a combination of blue and red lights that bled one into the other. It was fairly low on the horizon, about at 20 degrees, which would put it along the ridge line of the mountains east of here (The Mayacamas). There are no airports or private airfields around here, so it's unusual to see lights like this.

I opened the window to see if there was any sound, and it was dead quiet. I live in the country so it can get pretty still at night around here and sound travels well. I should add at this point that it was pitch black with no cloud cover at all and the stars were very prominent in the sky tonight.

The movement of the lights was unusual in that they glided on a path from NE to SSW, and the movement was slower than a plane would make. I got my binoculars and went outside to investigate. I couldn't make out any form other than the lights appeared to outline a wing-shape, sort of like the flying wing, but not as elongated. I'm not clear on this because the shape was vague and I could only make it out for a few seconds - the brightness of the red and blue lights bled one into the other and made it hard to tell what they were attached to, even with the binoculars.

Then it did something strange - it just stopped. For about two minutes it didn't move at all. At this point, it was in the direction of the town of Sonoma, to the SE of my location. It was much higher in elevation now than when I first saw it. There was no reference point to compare it to, but I'm sure it was at around 10,000 feet at the very least by now (whereas it looked to be at around 3-4000 feet when I first noticed it).

After not moving for a few minutes, it began heading southward, deviating slightly from its previous SW motion, and the lights began getting very small as if the object was gaining altitude. Finally I lost track of it as it kept going south and getting dimmer. Again, it was very quiet outside and I didn't hear any engine noises that would make me think it was a plane.

It's probably nothing like I said, but still, there was something very strange about the movement of the lights. When it stopped like it did, I found it to be very odd, not natural at all. It wasn't circling or hovering, which would cause the lights the move back and forth somewhat. This thing just flat out stopped moving.

Anyway, for what it's worth, that's what I saw.

Posted 2002-12-23