NUFORC Sighting 129990

Occurred: 2016-09-15 21:45 Local
Reported: 2016-09-16 19:35 Pacific
Duration: 23 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Bigfork, MT, USA

Shape: Fireball


Comet like craft moving northeast across sky.

September 16, 2016. I am an artist living in Bigfork, Montana. At approximately 9:45 p.m. on the evening of September 15, 2016, I was out with my dog walking across my parking lot to go into my home. I happened to look up to admire the night sky and see if the moon was on the rise. When I did this, there was what I thought to be a firework going straight up into the sky from the Flathead Lake. It was a large yellow ball with a tail which appeared to be at least 6 times the diameter in length of the object.

Since my dog is afraid of the firework noise, I stood waiting for it to explode when it appeared to stop in midair and began to travel at a consistent speed horizontally on a north east route. There was absolutely no sound. I kept walking along the road to make sure to watch it without tree line interference. It appeared to be headed in the direction of Glacier Park. I watched until it disappeared from my sight. With the consistent but slow speed, I calculated I was watching it for approximately 23 seconds. At no time did the shape or tail change in appearance.

When it didn’t explode, I thought it was a comet, but the tail never changed length/shape and the glow remained consistent. There was absolutely no sound. By 11:00 p.m., I researched several local news channels in the hopes of finding a newscast about a comet passing over the State of Montana. I have searched for several more hours throughout the day today trying to see if there were any reports of comet – meteor sightings and have not discovered any reports.

Initially I felt initially that is was not a meteor but a comet due the consistent color and tail. I shared this event with several people I know and one individual recommended that I report it to this organization since now I am convinced it was some sort of UFO due to the behavior and flight. I have witnessed UFO sightings a couple of times in my life in other states and always have seen objects that are traveling at high rates of speed which I believe were not aircraft. Before becoming an artist 17 years ago, I worked in the aviation field and am familiar with various aircraft noise and behavior.

In summary, I am submitting this as possibly I may not be the only individual who witnessed this event. As an aside, this is the second event that I have witnessed around the Flathead Lake since moving here 10 years ago.

Thank you.

Posted 2016-09-22

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