NUFORC Sighting 30358

Occurred: 2003-07-25 22:41 Local
Reported: 2003-07-25 23:57 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Shelton, WA, USA

Shape: Light

Bright Light

Sitting alone in the middle of Totten Inlet (S. Puget Sound)on my boat. I was star gazing. Saw one good Meteor and one Satellite. Night before, I was sitting with friends on the west shore of the inlet and we saw 12 satellites in about 90 minutes. Have seen many over the years, but the object I saw at 10:41 PM was much brighter than any satellite I have ever seen. It was brighter than any of the stars visible to me (perhaps 3X). It was traveling in a straight NE direction. There were a few high clouds, and the object (light) was higher than the clouds, but either it was the intensity of the light or it just wasn't as high as what I would expect a satellite to be which really makes me wonder what it was. I first saw the object about half way across the sky. It was ahead of me about, and 65 degrees above the NW horizon. What made this different than an ordinary satellite was its brightness and the speed of its traverse (faster 2X), but also that I was able to view as it went well towards the NE horizon (15 degrees) with little change in the intensity of the light. There might have been a slight tail to the object when I first spotted it, but it was passing behind the high clouds, but was still visible, hence that might have given me the impression it had a short tail. The event lasted long enough for me to look at my cell phone to check the time and ponder who I could call to see if they could see it. I would say close to 2 minutes

((FOLLOW-UP COMMUNICATION WITH WITNESS))

Dear. Mr. Davenport,

RE: Shelton siting.

Thank you for your reply. After reviewing the ISS tracking plots I am left doubting that what I saw was the ISS. The reason for this is that the track of the object was towards the NE and not the SE as would be indicated by the web site you sent the link for. The other issue was the fact the object remained lighted (reflecting?) well towards the horizon to the NE. The ISS website indicates that the ISS would not be lighted as it passed that far to the NE at the time of night (infact it indicates that the ISS would not be lit as it passed over the coast line of N. America. Perhaps you might get another inquiry about this. Just wanted to let you know.

Regards,

((END))

NUFORC Note:

We are still exploring the possibility that the sighting might have been caused by the ISS. We are uncertain about the date of the sighting, and may have sent the wrong data to the witness. The sighting may have been on July 24, and we have requested confirmation of that fact. PD

Posted 2003-08-01