NUFORC Sighting 158468

Occurred: 2020-08-12 00:30 Local
Reported: 2020-08-12 10:48 Pacific
Duration: 20+ minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Boiling Springs, PA, USA

Shape: Light

Star/satellite-like light in the night sky moving unusually and sporadically for a prolonged period of time.

Myself and a friend drove to a park just outside of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania to watch the Perseids meteor shower on the night of 8/11-8/12. We arrived just before 11pm on 8/11, and set out a picnic blanket in a grassy field. We tried to find an area to view this meteor shower with a minimal amount of light pollution. We saw several meteors, which we expected. However, some time after midnight and before 1am we both witnessed what, at first, we thought was a satellite slowly moving across the sky, until it began moving unusually and sporadically. It looked like a satellite, or star to us until it began moving oddly. At first it moved steadily in one direction and then its pace slowed to a stop, and it began moving up and down, then would stop again, then moved circular motion, then a stop, then more steadily moving in a particular direction again, then another stop. This pattern continued for 20+ minutes, and possibly longer, but we stopped paying attent! ion as we continued watching the meteor shower.

Posted 2020-08-20