NUFORC Sighting 24023

Occurred: 2002-07-25 02:00 Local
Reported: 2002-07-29 23:03 Pacific
Duration: 2 hours
No of observers: 1

Location: Beaumont (Outside), TX, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Bright light (Venus-like), green, red and white, stationary for 2+ hours.

I work nights at an isolated tank farm. I had to go out at 2:00 a.m. to check equipment. I noticed a very bright light where Venus had risen earlier in the evening. I thought perhaps it was a binary star, since it looked like a double star as bright or brighter than Venus with my naked eye, and went back and consulted the Heavens-Above website, which I look at on a regular basis since I work at night a lot and like to observe different satellites, shuttle, space station, etc. flying overhead. The sky chart for 2 a.m. showed no bright stars at that time in that location. I know that I had never seen a satellite after approximately 10:00 p.m. local time and sure enough there were none on the list. Also, this object did not move. I got my binoculars out and then I observed the object having 3 distinct lights, green, white and red, which makes me think it was probably some unnamed stationary satellite. It was in the same area for 2 hours. At approximately 4 a.m. it was no longer visible. I WAS a skeptic about UFOs until then. I did observe the space station flying over the next evening, however, it crosses the sky in about 4 -5 minutes and is gone. Venus sets about 9 p.m. local time.



NUFORC Note:

We suspect a celestial body may, in fact, be the cause of the sighting, although the witness appears to have experience in viewing the night sky. The colors described are indicative of a "twinkling" star. Also, given the length of time the object was visible, we strongly suspect it was not a bona fide UFO. Satellites do not appear to hover in the night sky. PD


Posted 2002-07-30

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