NUFORC Sighting 24857

Occurred: 2002-09-04 21:24 Local
Reported: 2002-09-04 23:28 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Lynnwood, WA, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Interesting aerial phenomena just after darkfall

I was outside letting the dogs have their "moment", before going inside to catch something interesting on the TV. The sighting took place at almost exactly 2124, according to my cable box before I went outside (I was watching Junkyard Wars; got an addiction to it). The angle of view that I have from the backyard is small. I was facing due East, and looking up to see Cassiopea (just to be sure I could still locate it, I was an amateur astronomer in my teens). I noticed a very bright light, travelling at about the same speed as a satellite. It travelled from north out of Cassiopea to the south in almost direct North to South direction. Once it left the constellation of Cassiopea, it headed towards a large fir tree that I was standing almost under. It slowly began to fade out, to a dot, then to nothing. The trees that caused the narrowness of my observation are in a line on the property line between our neighbors and our house. I stepped back and went around under the tree to see if the light would brighten again and reappear (again, too much high end cable; I thought of the solar panels discarded by the astronauts from the space shuttle, that never really re-entered..). Needless to say, it didn't. I returned to my original position, and looked back up to make a sighting of the area that I saw this interesting phenomenon, and saw it happen again! Exactly in the same manner! Again I retreated under the tree, and looked to see if it reappeared. It didn't. During the first observation, I noticed a standard jet liner (Paine Field and SeaTac both have planes visible in holding/landing patterns in this area) flying under the object... Very obviously under the object, with sound and all the attendant lights. After observing this, I realized that total darkness had happened somewhere around 2050 to 2110 pm. Whatever it was I saw, I firmly believe was of terrestrial origin. Both of these objects had an interval of about 1 minute between sightings, and followed the exact same trajectory, and brig! htness t o disappearance ratio during the time of visibility. I think that whatever it was was either, a) a set of high flying aircraft, that had no paint (i.e. aluminum skin or some other reflective surface), or b) a set LEO (low earth orbit) satellites that caught the suns' rays at just the right place and just the right time, before travelling out of the sun's light and into shadow. There were absolutely no trails from the objects, and both were exactly the same in appearance and disappearance. I wish I knew what they really were! I'd like to note, after making a selection below this text box, that there were aircraft in the sky, but they were NOT chasing the objects I viewed, they just made the idea that they were LEO much more attractive.

For the investigators: If an investigator would like to contact me I work odd hours, please leave a message on my voice mail system if you don't reach me immediately. I would be glad to call you back and further discuss/investigate this interesting phenomenon. I also do not check this email address but once every few days (work email is faster, but I wouldn't commit this through a corporately controlled system, thanks ;), so phone contact is best....

Posted 2002-09-06