Occurred: 2009-04-18 21:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2009-05-14 12:45 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Hemet, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Light changes direction when military jet approaches.

I am filing this report as an afterthought, and some time after the event, in the hope that it corroborates someone else’s sighting.

I am an amateur astro-photographer, meaning I take photos of celestial objects through my telescope every dark clear night of the year. As such, I am quite familiar with the sky surrounding my area. There are aircraft in their designated lanes, the occasional military plane from a nearby Air Reserve base, and countless satellites. In fact, I see a dozen satellites visually each night out and capture a handful of their trails on each of my photos, to my dismay. There are also bats and owls that fly by, hunting with their squeaks and screeches. I am used to it all.

Last month, I noticed a “satellite” moving east across the sky. I thought nothing of it and diverted my attention. I then heard the sound of a military jet in a hurry to get somewhere, which sounds completely different from the usual passenger planes that fly by. It sounded like an F-16 tanker escort from the military base. I looked back up to spot the jet and saw the “satellite” make a nearly 90 degree left turn as the military jet rapidly approached it from the south-west. The “satellite” proceeded north-east, closely followed by the military jet with its wingtip lights flashing away. I watched the chase until they disappeared over and the horizon, during the time span of maybe 30 seconds.

This happened last month, near April 18th, sometime around 9:00pm. I did not take notes at the time because nothing can really be done about a sighting like this. I know I was in communication with another astro-photographer via email at the time, and I remember typing “I’m watching a UFO chase… So what are you taking pictures of tonight?” To me, it was just another curiosity so I quickly returned my attention to the photographic task at hand.

I don’t know what you can do with this late report; maybe this can be useful as corroboration for someone else’s report of anything similar to this around that date and time.




NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2009-06-09

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