NUFORC Sighting 31061

Occurred: 2001-12-01 02:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2003-08-31 14:41 Pacific
Duration: 2 hrs
No of observers: 1

Location: Kahului, HI, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object

Bright Star or Planet when magnified turns out to be metallic saucer shaped object.

Approx. Dec. 1st 2001 a heavily advertised meteor shower was to happen with its greatest show at approx. 02:00am from the east. I stayed up for event and it was indeed a spectacle. As I viewed the show I noticed to the NorthEast a stationary extremely bright star or planet. It was so bright that I wondered what planet it could be this time or year. I braced myself against the corner of my house and took a picture of it with my digital camera with a telephoto lens at the maximum. When I viewed the image, it didn't really present change differently from the way I viewed it with the naked eye. So, I decided to download to my computer and then digitally magnify it. As I magnified it, it started taking on a shape up 200X before it became distorted. It definitely was metallic and was saucer shape. It appears that a light is on top but may be a reflection of the sun. I thought maybe this could be a satellite but it remained stationary and didn't move for approx. 2 hours. I, like most people didn't report it because of the possible stigmas attached to the person reporting such things. I feel though that it is an important picture for those concerned.

((

NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. We suspect that the date may be November 18, the date of the the Leonid meteor shower.

Posted 2003-09-04