NUFORC Sighting 51368

Occurred: 2006-07-15 22:00 Local
Reported: 2006-07-16 01:21 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Champaign, IL, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

Interesting "Flashing" lights over Illinois in Casseopeia 7-15-06 10:00 pm.

My wife and I were walking our dogs, heading due east. The sky was very dark, and we had a nice view of the Milky Way. Cassiopeia was clearly visible, although it was very difficult to make out Andromeda, due to its closeness to the horizon, and the lights of Champaign. As I was walking the dogs, I noticed a white light go on then off in Cassiopeia, about ½ way between the two stars that form the wide “top” portion of the “W”. At first I thought I had seen a lightning bug (firefly), so I kept watching to see if it happened again: it did. This time it was a little further south, but still, keeping parallel to the Cassiopeia “W”.

The light would come on for about ¼-1/2 second, then go out. It was not a quick on/off, but there was some ramping up and down of the amplitude. It almost seemed as though it was rotating or something. The on/off nature reminded me of a lightning bug, but it clearly was not that since it maintained a very consistent path in the sky relative to Cassiopeia, even though we moved about ¼ mile during our observations. It “flashed” about 8 times or so before stopping. We estimate it was traveling about 1 to 2 degrees per minute.

I am a mechanical engineer, and my wife is a student of veterinary medicine.

Posted 2006-07-16

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