NUFORC Sighting 09573
Occurred: 1997-03-09 21:10 LocalReported: 1999-09-06 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1.5 sec
No of observers: 1
Location: Ilirska Bistrica, , Iceland
Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object
Dark object with numerous lights on trailing edge passed nearby. Moving GIF scetch included.
I`m a graduate at faculty of mechanical engineering. I underwnt fighter pilot med-exams and have confirmed excellent eye-vision. I`m also very familiar with all types of aircraft, helicopter, other airborne crafts and satellites, their in-flight behavior and day/night identification. I`m also familiar with stars and other astronomical objects that may be observed with naked-eye or binoculars on night-sky. I wrote complete data of every one of series of events right after they happend. Location: (on the balcony of my house) Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia Air temperature: +4°C Clouds: 0/8 (clear) No sighted air traffic (3 nm west of Il.Bist. there is a VOR/DME/NDB beacon) No moon. Hale-Bopp comet behind the horizon for almost an hour. Light pollution of sky minimal. Car traffic in vicinity: 2/min Observer in dark area, no lights in field of vision. Event: After the event that occured the day before, I observed southern skies approx. half an hour, naked eyed. I just wanted to go inside when a dark object flew over the town of Ilirska Bistrica, paralel to the valley in which the town is located (ie vector 150° ). I observed object at elevation of 20°, angular size 3.5°. Picture at: Duration: Approx. 1.5 second Appearance: Object flew in the direction of 150°, straight. I started to observe it when it appeared from behind the roof of our house and stopped when it disappeared in light-polluted air low over the horizon. The observed flight path was 20° angular size. The main part of the object was dark, you could not tell what shape it was, you just noticed that your view at the background stars was blocked by something moving and black. At the end of this black mass, there were 4 white lights (I`d say they were about at visual magnitude 4 or 5), at equal distances in a line. Between every two strong lights there was a weak light, not the half way in between, but a little up and right. Those weaker lights were also at equal distances and in a line, that was paralel to the line of the strong lights. From the direction of motion, paralel movement of all lights in that direction and the perspective changes, I can tell by feeling that the object was close and low over the town. I`d put its route over the local factory. And by the movement through the air, you could just tell that the two lines of lights are perpendicular to flight path. After it passed by, I heard a one second long weak buzzing noise. Like the sound of tyres rolling but buzzing and much more quiet than car tyres. The sound pitch was lowering as the object egressed, like the doppler effect. Angular size of object: approx. 3.5° Angular velocity: approx. 7°/sec. My conclusions: The four strong lights were at equal distances and always in the line, at their fixed positions. No smoke trails behind. If they were parts of a meteor broken by Earth`s tidal forces, they would go apart, they`d be much more close together, their light intensity would change and they would leave smoke trails (I`ve seen a few meteor break-ups, and I know how they look like). The weaker lights were also at equal distances and formed in a line that was paralel to the line of the stronger lights, but they were located a little to the right and up from the strong ones. I don`t know about the size of the object. If I assume it was about 20m wide, then the 3.5° angular width would give it the distance of 320m. That would go together with that feeling of mine plus the sound did not come to me immediately, but with approx. one second delay. So, that would put the object over the factory 300 meters away at about 150 meters above ground level. Assumptions. Later comments: I read in a paper that there was a scramble alert in USAFB Aviano, Italy (which is located at 300° 80nm from sighting location) on the 11th of March 1997 due to a wave of UFO sightings over the base. I don`t know if the news is valid, but I seek explanation of this and my further two sightings in it. Added in November 1997.
Posted 1999-09-12
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