NUFORC Sighting 57462

Occurred: 2007-07-03 23:00 Local
Reported: 2007-07-05 09:37 Pacific
Duration: 2 hours
No of observers: 1

Location: Fairview, TN, USA

Shape: Light

Multiple star like high altitude objects over middle TN. : We recently made some nice improvements to our backyard and had an in ground pool installed so this has been the perfect place to enjoy the night sky and star gaze this summer. I often stare at the night sky for long periods of time in my pool or hot tub but never before have I witnessed anything like what I saw on the night of July 3rd.

Between 11:00pm and 1:00am I saw roughly 8-10 star like objects silently move across the clear night sky. From my limited research it appears I could have witnessed the International Space Station (haven't verified it could bee seen from my location at that time)pass over head which I may have but that doesn’t explain the other 8+ objects I saw and they all kind of looked the same with the exception of one shooting star like object.

The first sighting I saw one traveling from my north towards the east horizon followed closely by a similar object trailing a few seconds slightly off the path of the first object. The rest seemed to be traveling roughly in the opposite direction, each traveling from horizon to horizon in a matter of minutes and some appeared to be moving in a less than perfect straight line. During all this I witnessed numerous shooting stars as one would expect however one was unlike any I have ever seen before, much brighter and much slower with a long white tail similar to those I’ve seen on pictures of comets. I must have watched it for about 15+ seconds when it suddenly disappeared low on my horizon.

Posted 2007-08-07