NUFORC Sighting 123692

Occurred: 2015-11-07 18:10 Local
Reported: 2015-11-07 18:39 Pacific
Duration: 3-4 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Elk Grove, CA, USA

Shape: Sphere
Characteristics: Emitted beams

Silent bright object sending out luminous beams and mist in 's' and hourglass shapes.

We saw what we thought was a police helicopter spotlight over the open fields south of Poppy Ridge Road, maybe half a mile away, but there was no sound at all. The sky is clear, but the light appeared as though it was shining into a mist in a cone shape from this round spot. We then thought maybe it was an airplane's landing light.

It was moving from south east to west, northwest. Judging speed is difficult because I couldn't clearly determine the object's size or distance.

But it went from a point due south of our house to a point directly west in the 3-4 minutes when we lost it in the trees.

The object, after we initially saw it looked very much like a comet, with a very bright, distinct "tail". That's when I thought it was a meteor which would burn out (baffling, because it seemed so close at first).

I grabbed my binoculars from the truck and looked at it, as it sent out an "s" shaped wisp of smoke or something and then an hour glass shaped illuminated smoke or something, emanating from the small round point. This happened over a period of maybe thirty seconds and it repeated this several times-I'm not sure they were at precise intervals.

I am absolutely sure others looking at the sky in this area at this time would have seen it.

Another thought I had was that it might be a multi-stage rocket, but traveling in this direction makes no sense.

NUFORC Note:

U. S. Navy missile launch. PD

Posted 2015-11-19