NUFORC Sighting 08773

Occurred: 1999-08-21 21:40 Local
Reported: 1999-08-22 00:00 Pacific
Duration: @ 20 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Charlestown, IN, USA

Shape: Circle

Seemed to be a sattelite but for 3-5 seconds it brightened to near the brightness of Jupiter.

I have been watching the skies for meteors many clear nights this summer. I have observed many high flying jets traveling to Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis and who knows where else. I have also seen, at numerous times what appear to be satellites moving in the sky from south to north and southwest to northeast. I use a good pair of binoculars and have seen no running lights or heard any muffled roars when these satellites pass over. Last night I saw a movement near or just slightly northeast of straight up. In the first 2-3 seconds of viewing, I thought I was looking at another satellite. Then about 3 seconds into view the object brightened almost instantly to the apparent brightness of Jupiter and it was seen as about the same size of Jupiter. Approximately 3 seconds after it brightened, it started dimming again. The objest was traveling from the northeast to the south. The half moon was behind some trees to my south as I was laying. There was a row of trees blocking the moon. By the time I found the object in my binoculars ( maybe 5 more seconds ) it had dimmed and then it looked exactly like a dim satellite in motion and brightness. It disappeared from view behind the row of trees in the vicinity of the moon. There was no trail visible and the object never veered from its course. ( If I had to guess what I saw I would say I saw a satellite with the ability to instantly turn on a light source; other than that it looked like the pinpoint of light you see from passing satellites. I live @ 20 miles north northeast of Louisville International airport and am used to seeing various running lights on all types of planes. This was not an aircraft, unless, of course, it was one trying to look like a satellite. I am a 52 year old retired male who has spent most of my life looking at the sky occasionally. This is the first time I have ever reported anything like this to any organization.

Posted 1999-08-30