NUFORC Sighting 70860

Occurred: 2009-07-04 22:23 Local
Reported: 2009-07-04 21:07 Pacific
Duration: 2 mins
No of observers: 5

Location: Waterville, OH, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

Orange light, ISS-like in magnitude and motion.

After the local fireworks display, I noticed a bright light (maybe -1.0 magnitude or "Venus bright") in the southern sky, SSW of our location. Speed and trajectory was similar to ISS and other satellite flyovers, but the color was bright orange and didn't appear to change (i.e., no flashing).

The light continued in a northernly direction, passing to the west of us and maybe an altitude of 70 degrees or so. Somewhere in the NW direction, it faded in very much the same way that satellites do when they enter the Earth's shadow.

Total observation time seemed to be 1-2 minutes, with the light maintaining its magnitude the entire time, except at the end when it quickly faded and disappeared. The orange coloring seemed to be the oddest part, and given the time of day, I could see how this could be red sunlight from below the horizon glinting off of a satellite (though the length of time and the prolonged intensity makes me doubt this).

There was no sound detected.

The sky was overcast, and the position of the moon could be easily determined, but no features could be made out through the clouds. The orange light was clear enough to appear to be beneath the clouds, but there was no way to determine for sure whether the cloud cover extended across the entire sky (i.e., it's possible that there were clouds blocking the moon, but not this light). Intellicast.com is reporting the ceiling at 8000'.

Three of the adults present, myself included, have worked in the air freight industry, and are familiar with witnessing commercial aircraft on approach from 10 miles out and closer. We all tried to debunk this as an aircraft, but could not detect any indicator of such, like wing markers or red strobe lights (especially as the light moved in relation to us, where such indicators should have became apparent).

When I returned home, I verified that ISS was not in the area using heavens-above.com. A search for "UFO" on Twitter.com showed several similar reports around the same timeframe.

Posted 2009-08-05