NUFORC Sighting 02967

Occurred: 1997-11-07 18:30 Local
Reported: 1997-12-09 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30 minutes
No of observers: 4

Location: Austin, TX, USA

Shape: Light

Summary : A bright red light in E/SE. Did not move as long as we watched.

Leaving house to go to children's fair. We often look at the stars. I noticed an unusually bright red object in the E/SE and stopped to look. Thought it was Mars but too bright. Too high for radio tower. Blimp? Did not move for over 15 minutes. still there when i had to leave. Haven't seen since. Family watched. We are military brats so know aircraft. This was weird. My girls got scared because i kept saying that whatever it was it wasn't normal. I expected to see an article in the paper about it. A nova star? Perhaps it was the planets aligning that night? It had teh steadiness of a star or planet but it was very bright. At one point there seemed to be three interior lights, a little less bright. I thought it was my eyes but my wife and two kids saw it too. I went to California a week later and told a friend who said a similar light was reported in Santa Barbara on NOv 15 but it was reportedly a rocket launch. Maybe so, but what I saw was not a rocket launch.

Posted 1998-03-07