NUFORC Sighting 32527

Occurred: 2003-04-01 17:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2003-10-21 16:53 Pacific
Duration: 2 to 3 min
No of observers: 1

Location: Asheboro, NC, USA

Shape: Cylinder

Large, shiny, motionless cylinder.

It has been sometime since I have seen this, but the thought of it has stayed with me. Driving home from work (South on US220) I saw in the SSE sky what appeared to be a very large and shiny cylinder. It appeared to be at a fairly high altitude (my best guess between 25,000 and 40,000 feet). If my height guesstimate is correct then I would guess the length to be between 300 and 600 feet (this is based on what a commercial airliner looks like at cruising altitude). The length to diameter ratio was probably between 4 and 5. The sky was totally clear, and the sun was at a late afternoon angle so the object was reflecting greatly. I'm sure it wasn't some reflection/glare from my windshield, because the car was shaded by the trees along the road. During the entire time I was watching, the object did not appear to move at all. After I took my exit, which is basically a clover leaf, I was unable to find the object again. My first thought when I saw it was that it was a sattelite reflecting the low angle sunlight, but it was just too large. Like I said, this image has really stayed with me.

NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD

Posted 2003-10-31